Lost and Found
by adavisa
Summary: Completely AU. Harry's parentage is not what he has been raised to think. Ministry laws are repealed and the truth comes out all around. RL/SB, GW/LJ, eventual HP/HG. There are 2 gay relationships in this fic but it is not a slash fic. Rating changed.
1. Chapter 1

"Do you ever wonder where he is?" Remus Lupin asked his mate.

The dark haired wizard shook his head. "Moony, please. Not tonight. I can't take it tonight. It's just too much."

July twenty-fifth was a tough night for both werewolf and animagus. The anniversary of the night they had taken their beautiful son from the arms of his loving fathers, to the adoption agency in Ireland. They had kissed his raven curls goodbye, and looked into his sparkling blue eyes one last time, then handed him to the adoption-witch, who took their precious son to his new parents.

"There was nothing we could do Pads," Remus said, wrapping his arms around Sirius' shoulders. "They would have taken him from us and put him into foster care, at least this way we know he went to a family who loved him."

"He had a family who loved him," the animagus said in a gruff voice. "Instead, I've got to live knowing that a piece of me, a piece of you, is out there somewhere, looking like someone other than us, living with a family other than us." Sirius' voice broke at the end of his sentence and Remus pulled him tightly against his chest.

The pair sat up that night, talking, crying and drinking, much the same as they had for the last sixteen years on that night.

The next morning they were awoken by an owl pecking at the window. Remus rose and let the owl in, untying the rolled newspaper and note from it's leg, and giving it a treat before sending it away.

I was the only person present that day, and I've held your secret all these years, but you no longer have to hide it boys. If you choose, you can find your son. Good luck, and peace be with you both. I hope you find some answers,

_A _

Confused, Remus unrolled the newspaper and began to read the headline. "Breakthrough in Wizarding Law. Archaic Anti-Homosexuality laws now stricken from record."

Sirius snatched the paper from his mate's hand and continued. "Wizards and witches may now marry and have children with anyone they wish, as long as they are of the age of consent and are willing, without fear of repercussions. Further more, any homosexual couples who had children and were forced to give them up for adoption, or had them taken away by Children's Services may visit the Ministry of Magic Children's Services Department for a blood search test, to find if their child is still living, and if so where they live. Depending on the situation, parents may be allowed to contact the family of their child."

Remus and Sirius looked at each other in complete shock for several minutes before Remus spoke. "Let's go!"

Both men jumped from their seats and headed upstairs to clean up and dress to go to the ministry.

They were ready in moments and held hands as they apparated to the ministry together. When they arrived, they found that they weren't the only couple who had lost a child, or children, over the years to the Ministry's insane laws. There were at least 30 couples in line in front of them to get their blood test done.

When Remus and Sirius reached the front of the line, the already exhausted looking wizard at the desk asked them both to hold out their hands and when they did, he pricked the index finger of each man and took a drop of blood from each. After dropping them onto the same card, the man waved his wand over the card and writing began to appear. Both Remus' and Sirius' eyes were locked on the card and both were absolutely shocked as they read what the card printed out.

Sire: Remus John Lupin

Carrier: Sirius Orion Black

Adoptive Sire: James David Potter

Adoptive Carrier: Lily Anne Evans-Potter

Current Caretakers: Vernon and Petunia Dursley, adoptive Uncle and Aunt

Adoptive parents status: Deceased

Child status: Gravely injured

"Go home and get ready for him. I'm going and getting him right now. I tried to tell Albus for years that they were abusing him, but he always told me it was safer for him to stay, even if he was 'getting punishing' as he so cruelly called it, because of the blood wards. Well we can remove those quite quickly." Remus told Sirius

The animagus started to protest but Remus stopped him. "I may be a wild animal once a month, but I have better control of myself than you do. We don't need you going to jail for murdering a muggle when we just got our son back. I'll get Harry and be right back to the manor. You get ready for him."

Sirius nodded and kissed his mate quickly, but fiercely, "Bring him back. Bring him back quick Moons."

It was Remus' turn to nod. "We'll be right back," and with that both men apparated away. Remus headed for Number 4, Privet Drive, while Sirius headed for Black Manor, a lesser known, and much less depressing home that had been in the Black family for almost as long as Grimmauld Place.

Harry lay on his small bed in the smallest bedroom of Number Four, Privet Drive. His head was pounding and he kept seeing starbursts in his vision. He was sure that the last beating from Uncle Vernon had cracked his skull yet again.

"GET DOWN HERE BOY," Vernon Dursely screamed from the bottom of the staircase.

The young wizard jumped out of his bed and rushed out the door, stepping on yet another pile of rubbish that Dudley had left outside his door, almost falling down as he rushed for the stairs. Ignoring the slip, he continued on as fast as he could. His Uncle's wrath had gotten worse over the summer, it seemed that he had been fired from work for falling asleep during a meeting, and had taken up drinking to pass the time.

"TOO SLOW BOY!" Harry's uncle screamed when he made it to the bottom of the stairs.

Vernon smacked Harry on the back of the head as he walked by, causing him to lose his balance and trip over the leg of the table in the entryway, knocking over one of the many vases that Aunt Marge had sent to Aunt Petunia, causing it to crash to the floor and shatter into many tiny pieces.

This earned him another large hand to the back of the head, and this time he fell to the floor, seeing nothing but stars. He felt his uncle begin to kick him, and just as he was about to black out, the front door banged open and the man his parents had named as his godfather, Remus Lupin, barged in, snarling at the drunk, obese man.

The werewolf grabbed Harry's abuser and tossed him into the wall, which was no small feat considering the size of the man, and scooped Harry into his arms. He apparated his son directly to the home where he would stay from now on.


	2. Chapter 2

Sirius heard a loud crack in the living room and rushed in to see Remus holding an unconscious Harry who had blood trickling from his nose. The animagus snarled, but a look from his mate quickly silenced him.

Together they two men took their son upstairs to what would become his bedroom, and Sirius firecalled for the best healer he knew.

Harry woke as the woman was healing him. Looking up, first panic, then realization crossed the young man's face, when he realized that it was not Bellatrix Lestrange that had her wand trained on him and was muttering incantations under hear breath, but Andromeda Tonks, who looked quiet like her evil sister, but had a much kinder face.

"Andromeda?" Harry asked nervously. "Where am I?"

"Ah, my boy, you're awake. You startled me. Why don't you ask those two where you are." She said pointing to Remus and Sirius who Harry hadn't noticed were standing beside his bed.

"Harry," Sirius started.

"The short version of the story is, you're at Black Manor, one of the many homes in Sirius' family. The long version is far too long, and you've had an awful head injury and need your rest." Remus interrupted his mate and answered Harry.

Harry nodded, looking from one of his godfathers to the other, wondering what was going on. "Alright, but I'll expect the long version very soon."

"I promise," Remus said with a soft smile. Sirius nodded in agreement. "Very, very soon," the animagus said with a slight irritation in his voice.

"Why don't you two boys go brew some tea for Harry while I finish looking him over," Andromeda suggested smoothly, shooting a look at the two lovers.

Andromeda stepped to the door and watched as the men headed down the stairs to the kitchen before she went back to Harry. "I want you to take this," she said, handing Harry a vial. "It's a mild calming draught. Just remember that I was there the night you were born, so if you feel like you need a confirmation of anything, I'll be downstairs for a while, monitoring your vitals from the living room, for a bit."

"Why would I need a calming draught before I talk to Remus and Sirius?" Harry asked, confused.

"Just trust me. That is for them to tell you." Andromeda answered as the men entered with a tray of tea and biscuits.

Andromeda cast the spell that would allow her to monitor Harry's health from the living room and exited the room.

Remus sat the tea tray on the table beside Harry's bed and sat on the bed to Harry's left, as Sirius took a seat to Harry's right. The older men looked at each other, wondering where to begin.

Sirius began. "Sixteen years ago yesterday, I gave birth to a beautiful little boy with black curls and shimmering blue eyes. He had my coloring, but he looked just like Moony in every other way." The animagus' voice began to shake, so Remus took over.

"He was a lovely baby, but we only got to spend a few hours with him. You see, only one person knew that we were pregnant, and we couldn't risk anyone else knowing. Sirius used charms to conceal his pregnancy until he was almost due, and when he couldn't use charms anymore, we pretended we were going off on vacation and just stayed here in the Manor."

Sirius cleared his throat and began again. "Lily and James didn't even know. Lily was pregnant at the same time as we were, as I'm sure you've figured out."

Remus took over yet again, "Within just a few hours of your birth, we were secretly transported to Ireland, where we gave our son to an adoption agency, so that the Ministry couldn't put him into foster care. Up until this morning, there were many laws against homosexual couples. We couldn't marry, couldn't leave our estates to our partners, couldn't raise children together and a man getting pregnant was pretty much illegal. If the ministry got word of two wizards or two witches raising a child together, they would take the child and place them in foster care."

Moony paused at the absolute look of outrage on Harry's face. "That's terrible!" The young wizard stated angrily.

Both men nodded. "It was," Sirius continued. "But this morning we got an owl with a copy of The Daily Prophet. Those laws were overturned last night, and went into effect this morning. We went to the Department of Children and Family Services this morning and did a blood test to find out where our son is."

Both men looked at Harry and he said "Well, where is he?"

"He's been right under our noses his entire life. A couple very close to us adopted him." Remus explained."Who?" Harry asked impatiently.

"You cub," Sirius finally said. "Lily was never pregnant, she was using a spell from the adoption agency. Andromeda had given us the name of the adoption agency right after we found out I was expecting, and since James and Lily were waiting for a couple to contact the adoption agency early on, they paired us with them, not knowing that we were close friends with James and Lily."

Harry cracked up laughing. Looking at Sirius he said "So you're telling me that you're my mum?" He looked to Remus, "And you're my dad?"

Both men nodded.

"But that's impossible. I look just like my dad," Harry protested, realizing both men were serious.

"Wizards have a process called blood adoption. A potion is made with a bit of your adoptive mum's and dad's blood, and given to the baby a few drops at a time over about a week, and his or her features slowly change to resemble that of their adoptive parents. That's how you got James' hair and Lily's eyes." Remus explained.

"But it's removable, if you want it to be." Sirius added quickly.

"So, I have a family? A family that cares about me? For real?" Harry asked slowly, stunned.

Remus and Sirius nodded. "You're our son," Remus said gently.

Tears fell down Harry face as Remus and Sirius took their son into their arms. They had held him many times over the years, but for the first time since the day he was born, they had their son in their arms once again.


	3. Chapter 3

Later in the evening after many tears, lots of hugs and many more tears, Harry was given a clean bill of health, though cautioned to take it easy, by Andromeda and the witch took her leave, giving the men the home to themselves, with their son.

Harry yawned. "Do you mind if I take a nap? I'm exhausted.""Sure, we'll wake you for dinner," Remus said, urging Sirius up from the side of the bed. "Well come back later Padfoot," the werewolf whispered to his mate.

The men that Harry now knew were his fathers left the room, closing the door behind them. Harry closed his eyes and though he was exhausted, sleep wouldn't come. After quite some time, Harry sat up and found his wand on his bedside table. He summoned Hedwig and after a bit of searching found some parchment and a quill in his trunk at the foot of his bed.

Harry penned a letter to Hermione and a letter to Ron. Harry had sorely missed his friends over the summer, and was excited to tell them about his new found family, even if it was a huge shock to him.

Having calmed a bit writing his letters, Harry laid back down and was awoken about an hour later to an owl pecking at his window. Recognizing it as the Weasley's owl, Errol, Harry got up quickly and let it in, before it passed out from the long journey. He figured that Hedwig must be waiting on Hermione's response.

He untied Ron's letter from Errol's leg and let the old owl rest before it headed back to Ottery St. Catchpole.

Excited, Harry unsealed the letter and began to read.

_Harry,_

_That's a bit mental don't you think? I mean there were reasons for those laws, and I don't particularly agree with them repealing them. You really ought to think about what you're saying before you go spouting off that you've got two fathers. That's just gross. _

_Ron_

Harry stared at the letter. He couldn't make sense of why his best friend would be so upset that he'd finally found a family.

It was then that Remus peeked in on his son. Finding Harry sitting cross-legged on the bed with tears in his eyes, Remus went to Harry. "What's wrong Harry?" He asked from the foot of the bed.

Harry jumped, causing the tears that he had been holding back, to fall from his eyes. He didn't speak, simply handed the letter from Ron to his dad.

"You wrote Ron?" Remus asked.

Harry nodded. "And Hermione," he added. "But I haven't heard back from her."

At that moment, Hedwig landed on the bed. "I think there's your answer," Remus said, nodding toward the snowy white bird.

Harry untied the letter from her leg and she hooted before flying to her perch on top of the wardrobe.

Remus turned to leave, but Harry stopped him. "Would you stay? I don't think I want to be alone if she has the same reaction that Ron had."

"Hermione won't react like Ron, she has a much better head on her shoulders," Remus said, "But if you'd like for me to stay, of course I will."

Harry nodded, so Remus sat on the bed beside his son, as the young man opened the letter.

_Harry,_

_I'm so happy for you! No more visits to the Dursleys in the summer! I bet Sirius and Remus are just over the moon to have their son back, and I can't imagine how you're feeling, finally having the parents that you always deserved. Write me again soon and let me know how things are working out!_

_All my love,_

_Hermione_

Sirius watched from the door as Remus hugged their son tightly. "I told you she wouldn't have the same reaction," he heard his mate tell Harry.

The animagus entered the room, making his presence known. "Having a rough evening cub?" Sirius asked.

"Just a bit. I wrote Ron and Hermione, and Ron's being a prat. Hopefully he gets over it." Harry explained.

"If he doesn't, it's his loss." Sirius told him.

Remus nodded in agreement. "You've got lots of friends. Have you thought of writing Neville and Luna? They've both always been there for you. So have the Weasley twins."

Harry agreed with his fathers, so Remus went to find more parchment, while Sirius sat with Harry, laughing as Harry told him about some of the new pranks that Fred and George had come up with, and were about to debut in their stores.

Once Remus came back, Harry wrote letters that were similar to the ones he sent Ron and Hermione, and sent them off to Fred and George, Luna, and Neville.

The letters went on their way with Hedwig, and Harry got out of bed and went downstairs with Remus and Sirius.

Together they showed Harry around his new home. He was surprised to find that while the manor was smaller than many of the Black family homes, it included an extensive library, large formal dining room, smaller family dining room, many bedrooms, and countless bathrooms. Harry found that his room was just down the hall from his fathers' room, and contained his own private bathroom, and a closet that rivaled the size of his bedroom at the Dursley's home.

"Tomorrow we're going shopping," Sirius announced as Harry peeked into his closet.

"You don't have to do that," Harry protested. "I've got..."

"Clothes big enough to fit a small elephant," Remus interrupted.

"You're getting new clothing," Sirius insisted.

Harry knew he was defeated, and just nodded. Though he protested, he was secretly excited to be going shopping for proper clothing. He'd never had clothes of his own, other than his school uniform and robes.

The three men ate a late dinner together, and then retired to their bedrooms. Remus could see a new light in Sirius that he hadn't seen in many years. As the couple curled up together in their bed, Harry was in his room, curled up happily in the middle of his large plush bed, thinking about the shopping trip the next day.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry awoke early to find Hedwig pecking on his window with three letters attached to her leg. He jumped out of bed and let her in, taking the letters from her and tossing her a few treats from the box by the window. She flew up to her perch and drank deeply from her water dish before tucking her head under her wing and quickly going to sleep.

He had received a letter in response to each one that he sent. Unsure of which letter to read first, he picked up Luna's and unrolled it. She had much the same opinion on things as Hermione did, and her letter gave Harry the confidence to open Neville's letter, which said pretty much the same thing once again. Both were very happy for Harry, and glad that he didn't have to go back to Surrey again.

Harry stared at the letter from the twins. He was just about to open it when a knock came at his door. "Come in," he called, sitting the letters aside.

"Oh, you're already up," Remus said, a bit surprised. "I thought teenagers liked to sleep in?" He teased a bit.

"Oh, I do, but Hedwig woke me up," Harry gestured to the letters laying on the couch beside him.

Remus sat down. "I see you've opened two of them, how did they go?"

Harry smiled, "You were right about Neville and Luna, they're both just happy that I'm happy and safe. I haven't opened the one from the twins yet, I'm a bit nervous."

"Don't be," Remus advised. "Something tells me that Fred and George are going to be perfectly happy for you, probably even more so than Hermione, Neville and Luna are. Especially if they've read yesterday's paper, which I'm sure they have."

Harry found Remus' comment a bit odd, but ignored it for the time being and opened the letter from the twins.

_Harry,_

_Though we were a bit hurt to not receive a letter when Ron and Hermione received their letters, we understand. We're very happy for you little brother, and Ron has a drawer full of shorts that are full of itching powder, just waiting for his little bum to get in them. Come by and see us next time you're in Diagon Alley. _

_Gred and Forge_

Harry looked up from the letter and beamed. "They want me to come see them next time we're in Diagon Alley. And," Harry said with a laugh, "They've put itching powder in all of Ron's shorts."

Remus laughed, "Sounds like something those two would come up with. It just so happens that we're headed to Diagon Alley for a bit today. Perhaps we'll swing by their shop."

Lupin left Harry to put his letters away while he went downstairs to fix them some breakfast. When he got to the kitchen he found Sirius sitting at the table drinking a cup of what looked to be very strong, black tea. "Morning Padfoot," Remus said happily.

"What's got you so chipper?" Sirius asked, his voice still thick with sleep.

"Luna, Neville and the twins all wrote back to Harry this morning, very positively, I might add."

"That's wonderful!" Sirius said with a smile.

"And it seems that the twins didn't approve of Ron's reaction. It seems they snuck into his room and put itching powder in his shorts."

Sirius' barking laugh filled the kitchen. "What's so funny?" Harry asked as he came in the room.

"Moony was just telling me about poor Ron's underpants," Sirius said with a snicker.

Harry grinned and sat down at the table. "Remus said we could go see the twins today while we're shopping."

Sirius agreed as Remus sat a plate of food on the table and the three men tucked in.

It wasn't long before the food was all gone and they were heading out the door. Their first stop was a clothing shop in muggle London for things like jeans, trainers, underwear, tshirts and socks. After Harry had picked out what he wanted, Sirius picked up doubles of everything in multiple colors and piled them in Harry's arms. "There's no sense in shorting yourself on clothes when both of us have enough money that our great grandchildren aren't going to need to work."

Harry protested when Sirius insisted on paying, but Sirius produced a wallet of muggle money and paid the cashier, and they headed outside.

Once they were in the Three Broomsticks, Sirius shrunk the packages and stuffed them in his pocket. They stopped for a quick butterbeer before heading on into Diagon Alley.

A quick stop at Madame Malkins for Harry to be measured, and to pick out fabrics that Sirius once again insisted on paying for, and they were headed down the street to the quidditch shop where Harry got a new broom servicing kit, new gloves and a couple of practice snitches.

After their shopping was done, the three headed to the most obnoxious looking building on the street. Lots of purple and orange, and many flashing lights set Weasley's Wizard Wheezes out from the rest of the buildings in Diagon Alley.

When they entered the shop they were greeted by both Weasley Twins, which was unusual because Fred was usual in the back, inventing new pranks, or at least succeeding in blowing something up.

"Hello Harry, Marauders," the twins said together.

Sirius and Remus nodded their hellos to the twins, while Harry hugged them both.

"You know Harry, I think Sirius and I are going to go get a cup of tea whilst you visit with your friends. I'm sure you don't want us old dogs hanging around." Remus said lamely, knowing that the twins wanted to talk to Harry.

"Ok, see you guys later." Harry said absently, already chatting with the twins over some new products.

As the Marauders left, George turned the store over to their shop keeper, and he and Fred took Harry upstairs to their little apartment. Once they were all seated, Fred began to speak, "I know Ron upset you, but really he's the only prat of the family, besides Percy of course. Mum and Dad don't care of course, they knew Remus and Sirius were together for years, and neither do Bill, Charlie or Ginny. No idea what crawled up Ron's bum, but he'll either come around, or he doesn't deserve to be your friend."

"Thanks guys, it means a lot that you guys are still with me." Harry said, smiling.

"Harry, I've got a secret, and Fred is the only one that I've told before now, but I think you're fitting to be the second person to know." George started.

"OK," Harry said, waiting for George to continue.

"Hey Lee, come here a second," George called.

Lee entered the room and took a seat on the sofa to George's left. Harry was a little surprised when Lee took George's hand and leaned against him.

"Lee and I have been together since we were 13. I took Alicia to the Yule ball at the end of our sixth year, to keep anyone from being suspicious. Now that us being together isn't illegal, and we can raise children together and get married, we've decided to tell our families. After your letter yesterday, we decided to tell you first." George explained.

"That means a lot to me," Harry said. "I'm happy for you guys. I'm glad you don't have to hide your relationship for years like my dads did."

Harry hugged both twins and Lee again, and the four sat around and talked about Harry's upcoming last year at Hogwarts, and his new found family. Before they knew it Remus and Sirius were back and the group headed to a small cafe for lunch.


	5. Chapter 5

September First was fast approaching. Harry had been spending plenty of time with his fathers, and had been wondering about removing the blood adoption when a letter came from the ministry.

Harry was sitting downstairs watching TV with Sirius when Remus came in with the letter.

_It has come to our attention that Mr. Harry James Potter has returned to live with his birth parents and no longer resides at Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. If it is Mr. Lupin's, Mr. Black's and Mr. Potter's wishes that Mr. Potter remain with his birth parents, the blood adoption must be removed before September the First. Mr. Potter may also make any changes to his name that he and his birth parents wish, at the time of the adoption removal._

_Sincerely, _

_Lourdes Lange_

_Ministry of Magic_

_Department of Children and Families_

Harry smiled as Remus read the letter out loud. Sirius looked nervously at Harry, and Remus' face was unreadable. "Why are you smiling so much cub?" Sirius asked carefully, unsure of Harry's reaction.

"I've been wondering for several days about how to bring up removing the blood adoption to you guys. And I've always wondered if you ever thought of a name for me, even though you knew you couldn't keep me." Harry explained.

Remus and Sirius both visibly relaxed and Remus spoke again. "We never picked out a name, but in my head I always thought of you as David. We would never ask you to change your name though."

"Whose last name would I have been given?" Harry asked, contemplating who he could have been, and the things that would have been different.

"Mine," Sirius said. "When we used to dream of being married, we knew that Remus would take my name. The power that comes with being a Black is great."

"Did you ever have a name for me...Dad?" Harry asked, a bit timidly. He'd never called either of the men by anything but their given names before.

Sirius' head snapped up. He sat there, looking at Harry for a moment before he answered, "I always thought of David too, probably for the same reason as Moony. David means beloved in Hebrew."

The two men sat with their son, in silence, just considering what could have been, what should have been, before Remus once again broke the silence. "Do you want to remove the blood adoption Harry?"

"Are you mental? Of course I do. Even before the letter from the ministry came, I had been wondering about how to bring it up. I wanted to do it before term started again. I want to go back to school as me, the real me."

Sirius and Remus were both over the moon, happy. "We can go to the ministry and get it done whenever you want." Sirius said.

"Can we go tomorrow?" Harry asked. "And can Hermione come with us, if her parents don't mind?" He added as an afterthought.

"Of course, and yes, Hermione can come, but can I ask why?" Remus said.

"Yeah, I always feel a little bravery when Hermione's around, and I'm a little nervous about changing my looks and my name." Harry admitted.

"You don't have to change your name, Harry. Like Remus said, that is entirely up to you. You don't even have to change your last name if you don't want to. We understand that Harry James Potter has been your name for the last 16 years, and James and Lily died protecting you. We'd never take that from you." Sirius assured his son.

"Oh I know. But I'd like to. Being Harry Potter hasn't been the best experience of my life. My Uncle liked to snarl 'Potter' at me like it was a curse word, and that's what all the people at school who don't like me, call me too." Harry explained.

Both of his fathers nodded. "We'll support whatever decision you make son," Remus reminded Harry yet again.

Sirius nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow afternoon we'll have Hermione floo over and we can all floo to the Ministry together."

Harry went up to his room to send an owl to Hermione, explaining everything and making sure that she could get permission from her parents to spend the day with him and his fathers.

Hermione's response came quickly. Her parents agreed for her to floo to Harry's house and then spend the afternoon with them. They didn't quite understand the entire process, but were very happy for Harry that he had found his family, and were glad that he trusted Hermione enough to want to share the experience with her.

Harry got the floo password from his fathers, and owled it back to Hermione.

It was settled that she would come over about eleven, the foursome would go out to lunch and after lunch they would head for the Department of Children and Families at the Ministry. Harry would have his adoption removed, and change his name to whatever he decided.

Harry's father's spent the rest of the afternoon nervously watching TV, wondering what their son's choice would be the next day.

Their teenage son spent most of the afternoon in his bedroom, thinking, and writing in a journal that he had picked up in Diagon Alley the day before. He was trying to sort out his thoughts and feelings, and figure out who he wanted to be after his adoption was removed the next day.

Harry had gotten so lost in his thoughts, that he was slightly startled when Remus called up the stairs to tell him that Sirius was grilling steaks in the backyard, and that he should come out and join them.

He flipped his journal closed and grabbed his new trainers and headed downstairs to spend his last night as Harry James Potter, with his newly found fathers.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry woke bright and early, excited for his trip to the Ministry.

After a shower that he attempted to make stretch as long as possible, to take up some of the time before Hermione came over, Harry headed downstairs to see what his dads were doing.

He found that Sirius was still in bed, seeming to be enjoying a lie in that morning, and Remus was in the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

Harry headed over to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup, dosing it heavily with cream and a bit of sugar before taking a seat at the table and looking at Remus. "How are you so calm?" He finally asked his dad.

"Calm? I'm far from calm son, I've just had a lot more years to learn to control my nerves than you have," Remus replied with a smile. "Why don't you take your broom out and fly it around the grounds? There aren't too many muggles around here, and our grounds are charmed so that they look empty and well manicured, to muggles, no matter what they actually are."

"Really?" Harry asked. "I've never been able to fly during the summer before!"

Remus smiled at his son's excitement. "Go for it. You've got about two and a half hours before Hermione should be flooing in, but even if you're out longer, I can call for you when she gets here."

Harry ran upstairs, none too quietly, and grabbed his shrunken broom from his trunk. Unshrinking it and running back downstairs, Harry hopped on his broom and zoomed into the sky.

Sirius had come downstairs, woken by Harry's clattering around, and watched his son visibly relax as he zoomed around the grounds on his Firebolt.

"We should get him a new broom. He's had that one for several years now," Sirius commented.

Before Harry knew it, he had been flying for over two hours, and Sirius had come out to call him in because Hermione would be arriving any minute.

Harry rushed inside and ran up to his room to shower. Just as he stepped out and was drying off, he heard someone knock on his door. Drying quickly, he wrapped the towel around himself and answered the door.

When he flung the door open, expecting to see one of his dads, he found Hermione staring at him, her mouth formed a little O as she took in his near naked form. Both Harry and Hermione blushed and when Harry found his voice he said, "Hey Hermione. Just um...let me get dressed here and I'll be right downstairs."

Hermione nodded and quickly turned and headed back downstairs.

Harry went first to his dresser and found underclothes, and then went to his closet to find an outfit amongst the new clothes that he had gotten the day before.

After picking out a black silk button down shirt and charcoal gray trousers, Harry threw everything on, combed his unruly hair, and slipped his feet into a pair of loafers before heading downstairs to meet his dads and Hermione.

Everyone in the group was visibly jittery, other than Hermione. She was the perfect picture of calm. Remus and Sirius were both worried about Harry's reaction to his new look, and what he'd change his name to, and Harry was worried about how people would react to him looking different and no longer being Harry freakin' Potter. Hermione was just extremely curious. She couldn't wait to see how Harry would look. She already thought he was handsome, but being the son of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black surely wouldn't be bad for his looks.

The group flooed to The Leaky Cauldron where they then headed into muggle London. After having lunch at a small cafe where they all enjoyed light, crisp salads and warm paninis, they headed for the broken down telephone box where they all 4 crammed in and got their visitors passes.

Once in the Atrium they headed for an elevator and went to Level 2, Department of Children and Family Services. Luckily they were a few minutes early, so there weren't any other families in line before them. They waited a few minutes, all of them growing more anxious by the moment, until a small, plump witch came out of a door on the other side of the room and called "Harry James Potter?"

Harry stood, but when his fathers went to stand, he said "Would you guys mind waiting here, but can Hermione go with me?"

A look of hurt passed quickly across Sirius' face but Remus' hand on his leg kept the animagus quiet. "Go ahead kids, we'll be waiting right here for you."

Sirius stood and hugged his son. "We'll be right here," he reassured his son.

Harry and Hermione walked into the room behind the witch and sat at the chairs in front of her desk.

After answering dozens of questions, being asked multiple times if he was sure he wanted to remove the blood adoption, signing several papers and then enduring more questions when he added that he wanted to change part of his name, and signing more paperwork with both his adoptive name, and again with the name that he had chosen for himself, Harry was handed a vial of potion and instructed to take it all in one mouthful.

He took a look at Hermione who was watching him closely. "Are you still going to be my friend when I'm no longer Harry Potter?" he asked, timidly.

"Of course Harry! You know that your fame has never been why I've stuck to your side through all these years. I love you for you, not for your name, or your fame." Hermione exclaimed.

"She loves me?" Harry thought. "Eh she probably just means like a brother or something."

Harry uncorked the potion and grabbed Hermione's hand. Taking a deep breath, he tossed the potion back and swallowed it quickly.

He grimaced as he felt his features begin to change. It felt a bit like when he, Ron and Hermione had taken the polyjuice potion in second year to interrogate Draco, but not exactly the same. There was no pain, but it was a completely foreign feeling. There really was no way to describe how it felt to have your face rearrange itself.

After a few moments he began to feel normal again, and opened his eyes, which he hadn't realized he had closed in the first place, and found that he couldn't see anything. Realizing that he must have gotten his bad eyesight from James, he quickly removed his glasses, only to see a look of shock on Hermione's face.

"Am I hideous or something?" he joked nervously.

Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out a small compact mirror. "Harry, look for yourself, you're absolutely gorgeous.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry opened the compact and couldn't believe what he saw.

His dark, unruly hair was still dark, but now it lay in soft curls all over his head. His one striking green eyes were now the icy blue that belonged to Sirius. He seemed to look like Remus in every other way though, and it turned him into an amazingly handsome mix of his fathers.

"Harry," Hermione interrupted his thoughts, "Can I try something?"

"Uh. Sure," he said, unsure of what she wanted to do.

Pointing her wand at him, Harry felt Hermione begin to grow his hair. When it got to shoulder length she lowered her wand and said "There, you look much older now. You looked a bit like a child for a moment there."

Harry looked back into the mirror and found that he did look a bit older, and the dark hair around his face brought out the blue of his eyes even more.

"Ready to reintroduce yourself to your dads?" Hermione asked, once again interrupting his thoughts.

Harry swallowed the nervous lump in his throat and nodded. This time, Hermione grabbed his hand and they walked back out to the waiting room.

Remus had his arm around Sirius and both men's heads turned to the door when they heard it open. Sirius' eyes grew large, and Remus looked to have tears in his eyes when they saw their son. Sixteen years had gone by since either man had looked into the piercing blue eyes of their son, and now he was standing before them, like he'd never left.

Both men stood as Harry and Hermione walked up to them, and Harry handed them his paperwork, to be put into their vaults for safekeeping.

Sirius looked down at the papers and read, "Harry David Black," he looked up at his son and smiled. "I really like that."

Remus nodded in agreement. "It fits you well, because even if you'd changed your first name, it would have been hard, even for us, to stop calling you Harry, and you know how much we love David, and it was James' middle name as well, so you kept them with you, and we'll all be Blacks once Sirius and I marry."

"When are you two going to get married anyway?" Harry asked with a grin.

"We haven't really thought about it to be honest," Sirius said.

"With us getting you back, getting everything taken care of, we haven't had time to. It's only been legal for a few days now," Remus continued for his mate.

Harry nodded, accepting their answer and the foursome exited the ministry as quickly as they could manage.

Sirius and Remus elected to head home and leave Hermione and Harry at The Three Broomsticks to spend the afternoon shopping for their school supplies for the year. Sirius gave Harry their vault card, and told him not to worry about spending too much, and gave Hermione instructions to make sure that Harry spent enough, knowing that his son didn't like spending much money.

Hermione headed straight for the bookstore where Harry picked up their school books while she browsed for her own personal reading. They met at the counter and Hermione's pile was twice the size of Harry's and he had a dozen school books. They paid for their purchases, shrunk them and headed back outside. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her into Quality Quidditch Supplies before she could protest.

After looking over the new racing brooms and not being able to find anything that he needed, Hermione was finally able to pull Harry from the shop, and back out into Diagon Alley.

The street was fairly quiet as the two made their way down it, peeking into shops here and there. "Oi! Hermione," they heard a familiar voice call from across the street.

"Hi Dean! Hi Seamus!" Hermione called.

Harry and Hermione made their way across the street and greeted their school friends. "Who's this?" Dean asked, looking at Harry.

Both Harry and Hermione grinned. "Don't you recognize someone who's been sharing a dorm with you for the last 5 years?" Harry asked.

Dean and Seamus both looked confused until Seamus recognized Harry's voice and looked at Dean. "Harry?" the Irish boy asked slowly.

"That'd be me," Harry said with a grin.

"But you look different." Dean pointed out.

Harry explained the past few weeks to his dorm mates and they were both impressed and happy that Harry had found his family, and assured him that they were still his friends, no matter what.

Harry and Hermione parted ways with Dean and Seamus and decided to go to Fortescue's for ice cream before they headed to Madame Malkins for Hermione's robes.

They sat, laughing, talking and eating ice cream for a while and then Harry noticed something. "Hermione," he said, "You've got a bit of ice cream on your face."

Hermione picked up her napkin and dabbed at her mouth, completely missing the spot just in the right corner of her mouth where the speck of ice cream sat.

"Here, let me." Harry leaned in, intending to wipe the ice cream away with his thumb, but when he got close he couldn't quite resist. His head dipped down and kissed away the ice cream, lingering only for a second before he was back in his seat, a slight blush staining both of their cheeks.

"I...uh..." Harry began, but didn't know what to say.

"I didn't mind," Hermione said quietly.

"Would you like to take a walk out on the grounds before you have to go home? After we get back to the manor I mean?" Harry asked.

"That sounds lovely," Hermione said with a smile.

Harry paid for the ice cream and the young couple took their leave. They walked slowly, hand in hand, back to The Leaky Cauldron where they used the floo to go back to Black Manor.

Arriving in the living room and seeing no one, Harry and Hermione continued through the house and out the back door to the grounds were Harry had been flying earlier that day.

They walked around the small pond and ended up sitting together under a willow tree.

"So, uh..." Harry started, not sure of what to say.

"Don't make it more complicated than it has to be, Harry." Hermione said.

"I just don't know where this puts us," he said defensively.

"It puts us wherever you'd like it to put us." Hermione said simply. "I'd love to have a deeper relationship with you. I liked it when you kissed me."

Taking that as an invitation, Harry leaned in and kissed her again, lingering this time. "I'd love to be your boyfriend," he said with a smile as he pulled back.

"Harry! Hermione!" They heard Sirius call out. "It's almost four! Time for Hermione to go home, her parents will be waiting."

The couple stood and walked out from under the willow tree and up to the house.

Sirius saw them walked up the path, hand in hand, and grinned, making a mental note to tell Moony when they were alone.


	8. Chapter 8

_AN: I know this chapter is short, but another will be coming soon. _

The days leading up to Harry's return to Hogwarts seemed to drag on and on. Harry was anxious about seeing Hermione again, Ron's reaction to everything that had went on over the summer, and the entire school's reaction to his new name and new looks.

Finally August thirty-first rolled around and Harry gathered his clothes, school books and other supplies and packed up his trunk. He was surprised to find his fathers packing their things as well. "Why are you guys packing?" Harry asked, confused.

"We thought we'd surprise you. Remus will be teaching Defense again. Dumbledore has decided that Remus is no danger to the students, and these days, the kids need the best Defense lessons that they can get." Sirius said proudly.

"And your dad has insisted on tagging along," Remus said with a teasing smile at his mate.

"Someone has to teach on your days off," Sirius said, jabbing back at his husband.

Harry smiled as he watched his dads pick and tease at each other. He loved watching them together. That had been one of the best parts of the summer. The way they could be together without worry now was amazing. He hadn't known that they were together before, but now the world knew, and he was proud to be their son.

"So do I get to stay in my dorm or do I have to stay with you two lovebirds?" Harry asked, throwing in a bit of teasing of his own.

The three had a good laugh, and then Sirius said, "All teasing aside, you are welcome to stay with us, our quarters will have an extra bedroom for you, but I think it'd be best if you at least tried to stay with your friends. You know Seamus, Dean, Neville and Hermione are all behind you, so you've pretty much got your entire year standing behind you."

"I'd really rather stay in the tower," Harry agreed. "But I can still stay with you sometimes, can't I?"

"Of course!" Remus said quickly, "You're always welcome in our rooms, even if you just want to stop in and have tea during your free time. We'll just have to inform McGonagall if you plan on staying the night."

"So you guys don't have to go into school early?" Harry asked, "Don't most of the teachers have to be there ahead of time?"

"We're riding the train in, to 'supervise' all your bratty friends," Sirius said, his teasing tone coming back.

Harry laughed and headed back to his room to finish putting his stuff away.

"Right now I feel luckier than any man on the planet," Remus said, watching their son walk away.

Sirius nodded in agreement. "We're more than just lucky."


	9. Chapter 9

The morning of September first found all the occupants of Black Manor up with the sun.

Harry stumbled down stairs and fell into one of the chairs at the table where Remus and Sirius were both already sitting. Remus pushed a cup of tea toward Harry, who gladly accepted it and took a drink. "It's early," he stated, his voice still thick with sleep.

Sirius merely nodded, and Remus smiled, "Nice observation," he said cheekily.

Harry stuck his tongue out at his dad and all three men laughed. "Are we doing anything today, besides going to school I mean?" he asked.

"We hadn't thought about it." Sirius said, "Why don't you owl Hermione and see if she wants to floo over and you guys can spend the day together before we head to the school."

Neither of the older men missed the smile that lit up their son's face. "That'd be great!" Harry said happily, headed to the library to write a note to Hermione.

Once the note had been sent and a response was received, Harry sat down on the couch to await Hermione's arrival. It wasn't long before the low flames in the fire flared to life and turned green. Hermione's trunk came through first, then Hermione stepped into the library with Crookshanks' cage in her arms.

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, clearly glad to see her.

"Hi Harry," Hermione said with a smile. "I've missed you."

Harry stood and took Crookshanks and sat his cage on the table before giving Hermione a hug. "I've missed you too," he said happily.

Hermione kissed him on the cheek. "Do we have any plans for the day?"

"I hadn't really thought about it. I woke up early this morning and my dads suggested that you and I could spend the day together and then head to the train station together. I hadn't really got past there yet." Harry admitted.

"We've got all kinds of muggle outdoor things out back, I think you two were just too into each other the other day to notice them." Sirius said, his voice teasing. "Hello Hermione, welcome to our home once again," he continued.

Sirius took Hermione's trunk from her and shooed the kids out into the yard once again.

"I think they're really good for each other," Remus said, coming up behind Sirius.

"I think so too. He seems so much happier and more relaxed than he has any other summer that I've seen him." Sirius agreed.

"I don't think that's just Hermione though. He must be feeling incredibly relieved to not have to go back to the Dursley's house anymore, not to mention, he's lost the 'Harry-freakin-Potter' moniker that he's been stuck with since he was barely more than a baby." Remus thought out loud.

"You're probably right Moony. He's had a pretty good summer since we got him away from those muggles. I'd still like to run my fist through Dursley's forehead though. Knocking my son around like that," Sirius growled.

"And that's why I went to get Harry and not you," Remus reminded his mate, "Harry needs you here, not in Azkaban for killing a muggle."

"I know, I just wish there was something we could do." Sirius said, angry for his son.

"All we can do right now is get their things ready to go and let them spend time together. Then we'll get them to school safely, then we'll call Kingsley and see what we can do about the abuse. Surely Vernon can at least be charged with child abuse." Remus calmed the animagus.

Harry's dads took Hermione's things to put with their's and Harry's and get everything ready to head to the train station.

Harry and Hermione went out to explore the back yard and found stables with several beautiful horses, a muggle game called badminton, and a trampoline.

Hermione ran up to the trampoline. "I love these!" she cried out.

Harry looked at her like she had gone a bit crazy when she urged him to get on it with her. "What exactly does it do?" he asked.

"If you'll just get on, you'll see." Hermione impatiently told him.

After a bit more urging, Hermione managed to convince Harry to get on with her. She took his hands and instructed him to jump with her.

Once Harry got the hang of bouncing, Hermione let go of his hands and did a flip. "How did you do that?" Harry asked, intrigued.

"Watch me again, I don't really know how to explain it, other than to show it to you," she said.

Hermione bounced up in the air and did another flip, then another and another. "Ok, I think I get it," Harry said.

Harry bounced as high as he could, and Hermione watched as he flipped about halfway over, and landed on his back. She stifled a giggle until she was sure that he hadn't hurt himself, then she let it go. "The look on your face was priceless!" she said, still laughing.

Harry continued bouncing and flipping, and landing on his back. Hermione continued to give him directions until he finally completed a flip and landed on his feet.

Hermione hopped over to him and hugged him. "I knew you'd get it."

Together they fell back onto the trampoline and stared up at the clouds. Harry reached over and took Hermione's hand. "Thank you," he said.

"For what?" Hermione asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

"For being there for me. No matter what's happened, since I was 11 years old, you've been there for me. I could be an out right jerk, and you'd just correct me and stick beside me. Thank you." Harry said, looking into her honey eyes.

Hermione took the initiative this time and leaned in to kiss Harry. Her tongue slipped past his lips as the kiss deepened and his hands found her curly hair, holding her in their kiss. Both came up for air after a few moments and had a light pink blush to their cheeks.

The two settled together on the trampoline, Hermione's head on Harry's shoulder and his fingers twirling a strand of her hair, talking and watching the clouds until Sirius and Remus called them in, to head to the train station.


	10. Chapter 10

When they got to King's Cross Station, Remus and Sirius left Harry and Hermione to find their friends, and went on to supervise the loading of the luggage and to make sure all the kids got on board.

Harry and Hermione were walking hand in hand to the train when they heard a voice yell out, "What the blood hell?" and they both froze, instantly recognizing the voice.

They turned to see Ron Weasley standing behind them, his face even redder than his hair. "I thought we had something here, Hermione. And I find you standing here holding hands with some bloke I've never seen before?"

"Ronald Weasley! If you 'thought we had something' then maybe you should have spoken up years ago! You treat me like an encyclopedia when you need homework help, then ignore me when you don't, and poke fun at me behind my back when you're in a foul mood! How is that having 'something'?" Hermione fumed.

"Well...that's just..." Ron stammered.

"Exactly! We have NOTHING but friendship, if even that!" Hermione stormed.

Harry and Hermione turned back to continue on to the train when Hermione stopped and looked at Harry. "Can I?" she asked?

After a moment Harry realized what she wanted to do, and grinned. "Go for it. He's been a right prat and I don't much care."

"Ronald," Hermione called to the ginger wizard who was staring after them. "This is someone you've met before. Tell me you recognize him. He's only been sharing a dorm with you since you were eleven. It's Harry Black."

With that, the couple boarded the train and left Ron standing on the platform, dumbfounded and his jaw hanging open.

Seamus, Dean, Ginny, Luna and Neville all walked past Ron, slight smiles on their faces and boarded the train behind Harry and Hermione.

Harry and Hermione settled into a compartment and Harry said, "Well I guess that was one way to let everyone else know who I am."

"Aye mate, it was." Seamus said from the doorway of the compartment.

"Mine if we join you?" Ginny asked from behind him.

Harry and Hermione urged their friends to join them in the compartment and they all managed to squeeze in. "How were your summers?" Hermione asked.

As the group recounted their summers to one another, Ginny had them all roaring with laughter at Ron's less than pleasant encounter with his itchy underpants. Apparently when he put the first pair on and began to itch, he quickly ran to the shower to wash away the itch, only to put on a fresh pair of underwear that also had the itching powder in them. This went on for at least a half a dozen showers before Ron got wise and dumped her entire lot of underpants into the wash and went without them for a day while they all laundered.

The entire compartment was having a good laugh at Ron's expense when Remus slid open the door to the compartment and, with a smile, asked, "Mine sharing what's so funny? I could use a good laugh."

Ginny once again told the tale of Ron's underpants and had Remus laughing as well. "I'll be sure to tell your father the results of the twins' little experiment," he told Harry with a smile. "We've got about an hour before we get to Hogsmeade so you guys should get changed into your uniforms and robes."

Ginny, Luna and Hermione went to the girl's lavatory to change while Harry and the other boys pulled the shades on the compartment and quickly changed into their uniforms. They were straightening their robes when the girls knocked on the door. "Are you decent?" Hermione called out.

Harry slid the door open and pulled his girlfriend into the compartment, kissing her on the cheek. "As decent as a room full of teenage boys can get, I think." He said with a grin.

A chorus of oohs came from around the compartment when Hermione kissed Harry back, right on the lips and cheekily said "Then you're not very decent at all, are you?"

The group continued to laugh and joke until they felt the train start to slow down, and finally stop and they could see the lights from the castle in the distance, and Hagrid standing on the platform waiting to greet them. "I wonder what Hagrid will think?" Harry absently thought out loud.

"Hagrid will think the same thing that everyone else who has a bit of sense in their head thinks. It's wonderful that you've got parents, and you don't have to worry about being abused or starved anymore." Hermione said, prodding Harry out the door of the compartment and to the door of the train car.

" 'ello 'ermione!" Hagrid called out. "Saw Ron stomp off a minute ago, mutterin' somethin' and stormin' about."

"Yeah, that'd be about me." Harry said, before Hermione had a chance to answer the half-giant.

"And who'd you...Harry?" Hagrid asked, a bit confused.

"Harry found out over the summer that he was blood-adopted, Hagrid. His real parents are Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, and they've removed the blood adoption and Harry lives at home with his parents how. His name is Harry David Black now." Hermione explained rather quickly, to the stunned game-keeper.

After the store had a chance to process through Hagrid's head, he looked down and Harry and beamed. "Your new name and your new looks'll take some gettin' used to, but I'm glad for ya'. Glad we won't have to worry after you all summer anymore. You look a right bit healthier than you usually do coming off that train."

"Yeah it's probably all the food my dads are constantly sticking in front of me," Harry said with a laugh.

Harry and Hermione made their way to the carriages, catching up with the rest of their group from the train and squeezing into a carriage with them, before riding up the bumpy road that would lead them to the castle.


	11. Chapter 11

After the sorting ceremony, Dumbledore's speech and the magnificent feast that all marked the beginning of a new school year, Harry and Hermione found themselves curled up together in one of the armchairs in the Gryffindor common room, watching Neville and Seamus play wizard's chess and stealing sweet kisses, while Ginny and Dean were curled up in a chair across the room, looking rather cozy.

Ron entered the common room with a bang of the portrait, which caused The Fat Lady to shriek, and went straight for the stairs, not even stopping to speak to anyone.

"What's got up his butt?" One of the sixth year students asked.

"He thinks that my parents being gay is disgusting, and that Hermione is disgusting and has somehow betrayed him, by dating me." Harry said, unable to be surprised that Ron was acting the way he was. After all the time that he had blamed Harry for things that he didn't do in the past, it wasn't that big of a shocker. "And I guess the rest of you are disgusting because you're not shunning me for having gay parents."

Hermione kissed Harry on the cheek. "I think the one being disgusting is Ron. His attitude and demeanor are just awful. I'm sure Molly and Arthur are going to be humiliated when they find out."

Ginny looked up from where she had been staring into Dean's eyes and said. "Hmmm. I believe Mum and Dad would be appalled at his behavior. Maybe I should let them know."

"Ginny, please don't cause trouble on my behalf." Harry asked his friend.

"I'm not causing trouble for anyone. Ron is causing trouble for himself, and maybe Mum or Dad can take him down a peg. I'm sending them a letter in the morning." Ginny said.

"We all need to go to bed," Hermione said, causing most of the common room to grumble. "I know guys, but our classes start in the morning and it's lights out time. I wouldn't make a very good Head Girl if I didn't boss you guys around, now would I?" She laughed.

"Heck, we'd wonder if you were even Hermione if you didn't boss us around," Ginny said, laughing as well.

"I have to go do rounds and then go to my rooms." Hermione told Harry as they stood up. "Don't let Ron bother you and just ignore him if he tries to start anything."

"I won't, and I will, and I'll miss you," Harry said, pulling Hermione close to him and kissing her.

"Oi! Get a room," Neville teased as he was heading up the stairs to the boys' dorms.

Harry shot a dirty look at him and turned back to Hermione. "Can I pick you up at your door in the morning?" he asked with a smile. "We can walk to breakfast together."

"I'd like that," Hermione smiled up at him.

"Great," Harry said, kissing Hermione on the nose before walking her to the door. "Be careful on your rounds and I'll see you in the morning."

"Night Harry,"

"Goodnight, Hermione."

When Harry got up to his dorm, he noticed that all the beds except one had been pushed to one side of the room, and the other bed, which was obviously Ron's was warded and had the drapes drawn tightly closed around it. He looked at the other boys and shrugged before grabbing his toothbrush and pajamas and heading for the bathroom to get ready for bed.

The other boys followed Harry's lead and they were soon all in bed and before long Harry could hear soft snores coming from Neville's bed and even breathing from the other two.

Harry cast the muffalato charm and pulled the two way mirror that Sirius had given him, out of his pillow case and flipped it over. "Dad?" he called out.

Sirius' face became visible almost immediately. "Everything ok son?" he asked, obviously worried.

"Yeah, I just got used to talking to you and dad every night before I went to bed, and wanted to ask you how your days went, since I didn't get to see you much."

Sirius relaxed and Harry could see him motion for Remus to come over to where he was sitting. Remus' head came into view and he said "Hello son,"

"Hey dad, how was your day?" Harry asked, smiling.

The three chatted for another thirty minutes or so, back and forth through the mirrors, until Remus said "You know, I wouldn't be a very good teacher or father if I kept my son up all night chatting and caused him to sleep through breakfast in the morning and miss class."

Harry laughed, "But you could write me an excuse."

It was Sirius' turn to laugh then. "A note might get you out of trouble with Minerva, but I doubt even a note from Professor Moony here could get you out of trouble with Hermione."

Harry's eyes got wide, and a blush stained his cheeks for a moment, causing both his fathers to laugh again.

"We love you son," his fathers said. "I love you guys too." Harry said, smiling before he stuck his mirror back into his pillow case and laid down.

It wasn't long before Harry was fast asleep and dreaming of jumping on the trampoline with Hermione again.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry awoke early the next morning, grabbed his clothes and toothbrush and headed for the showers.

He had just stepped out of the shower stall barefoot and shirtless with a towel around his long hair when Ron and the rest of the boys from their year walked into the bathroom in various states of undress.

"Careful," Ron said snidely, "He might get attracted to one of you. He thinks that's normal you know."

It was just then that Dean _accidentally_ tripped and knocked into Ron, causing the red head to fall into the sink. "Whoops, sorry Ron." Dean said sarcastically.

"You know Ron, there's nothing abnormal about love, no matter what the people's genders are." Seamus said, eyeing the red head.

Ron looked at the other three boys in the room and when he realized that all of them continued to agree with Seamus and back Harry and his fathers, he stormed into one of the shower stalls and the magic could be felt as he warded the door and silenced the stall.

"I don't know why he's being such a jerk," Dean commented. "None of the rest of his family is that way. Even his parents are happy for you, or at least that's what Ginny said."

Harry shrugged and made his way to the sink to finish getting ready for the day. After his teeth were brushed and he had finished dressing, he headed for Hermione's room to wait for her.

Just as he stepped up to her portrait door to knock, it swung open and Hermione stepped out, looking absolutely beautiful.

"Good morning," she said, leaning in to give Harry and peck on the lips.

"Morning," he said with a smile.

"Did Ron try anything last night?" she asked, slightly worried.

"He moved everyone elses' beds away from his and put all kinds of silencing charms up around his bed, but other than that, last night was fine. He started in on me again this morning, but Dean fell into him and then Seamus shut him up." Harry explained.

"Good. I was hoping that maybe with everyone else on your side, he would wise up, but if he won't, at least you have friends behind you who will shut him up." Hermione said, happy that Ron seemed to be the only pig headed Gryffindor.

The pair walked to breakfast together without incident and enjoyed their meal before heading to their first Defense class of the year.

When they had finished breakfast and made their way to class, they were surprised to see both Remus and Sirius sitting behind the teacher's desk at the front of the classroom.

Harry started toward the desk, but the lesson was starting soon, so Remus motioned for him to take his seat beside Hermione.

After the bell rang and all the students were in their seats Remus cleared his throat and began to speak, "You have not had the best Defense teachers over the years, so this year I am forced to teach you the majority of the material that you should have learned over the past 5 years, as well as the material for this year, if you are to pass your NEWTS. I have enlisted the help of Professor Black, so that we can work on a more rigorous schedule and hopefully get you caught up."

He paused and looked around the room, and most of the students seemed impressed. "This is the reason that you will find double Defense Against the Dark Arts on your schedules on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays and a regular class on Tuesday and Thursdays. Normally the schedule would be reversed with only two double classes per week, but the entire staff felt the need to prepare you for the real world was extremely important, so here we are," Remus finished with a smile. "Professor Black would you like to say anything?"

Sirius stood with a grin and said, "I'll be assisting Professor Lupin in most of your classes as well as a few of the younger years, and I'll take over his classes when he is indisposed once a month. By the time summer vacation rolls around, you guys are going to know this material forward and backward, Moony and I will make sure of it."

Sirius was quickly shut up by an elbow to the ribs from Remus, who took back over the class and explained to the students that they would start out with a week long review of first year defense and go from there with a week of review from each year so that the Professors could get a good idea of what the students did and did not know, and what they would need to focus the most on.

Remus passed out a quiz on basic first year defense knowledge and the entire classed had finished it in about 10 minutes, and almost everyone got the full 100 points.

"Good, good. At least we're not going to have to spend much time reviewing first year material. It seems Professor Quirrell was a decent teacher, even if he was an evil bastard," Remus said with a bit of a laugh. "Well still do an over view of the most important things that you learned in first year."

The rest of the class went equally well and as the rest of the class filed out, Harry headed for his fathers' desk and hugged them both. "It's weird, going from being with the two of you 24/7 to only seeing you at meals and in class. Can we have dinner in your rooms tonight?" he asked.

"I'm sure I can be convinced to serve all of us in our rooms. Why don't you bring Hermione too?" Remus suggested.

Harry looked back at Hermione who was waiting for him, and she nodded, confirming that she had overheard the conversation and would accompany him to dinner with his dads.

"Sure," Harry said. "See you at dinner time."

Harry and Hermione continued on with their day, having a free period before lunch, which they chose to use to review their first year DADA work by the lake. They quizzed each other on basic spells and then practiced their dueling stances together, and before they knew it the hour was up and they were headed back to the castle for lunch.

After a lunch of thick sandwiches and crisps, they made their way to the dungeons for Potions class with Professors Snape. The class went almost the entire period without a hitch, until Harry mumbled something to Hermione that Professor Snape took to be an insult to him and took 10 points away from Gryffindor.

After potions they had double Charms and then had the rest of the evening off to study before dinner.


	13. Chapter 13

Harry and Hermione walked hand in hand down the stairs with the rest of their house, on their way to dinner, but made a right after they exited the portrait door and went to Remus and Sirius' rooms.

They stopped in front of a painting of two lions curled up on the African plains and when the darker of the two lions raised his head, Harry spoke the password, "Animagi," and the portrait swung open.

The couple were met at the door by Sirius, who pulled his son into a big hug, then stepped back and looked at the couple. He then surprised them both by grabbing Hermione and hugging her too. "It's good to see you two outside of class." He said, "I miss you son," he directed at Harry.

"I miss you too dad," Harry said, looking over his dads' rooms. "Where's dad?"

"Right here," Remus said as he came out of the room that Harry would soon realize was a small kitchenette.

Sirius ushered the couple to the couch and he and Remus took the armchairs to each side.

"Everything going ok so far?" Remus asked as they sat down.

"Pretty good," Harry said. "Everyone besides Ron seems to be really great about everything. Quite a few people have asked my name, which makes it hilarious to watch their face when I tell them."

"And the ones who haven't asked Harry who he is, have asked me who my hot boyfriend is," Hermione added.

"Just like a chip off the old block," Sirius said proudly.

"Ahem, blocks." Remus said, raising an eyebrow at his partner.

"Yeah, blocks," Sirius said, grinning sheepishly.

Everyone was laughing at Sirius when a timer went off in the kitchenette. Remus rose to go take the food out of the oven, and beckoned everyone else to follow him and have a seat at the table.

Hermione and Harry sat at the table, but Sirius followed Remus to the kitchen to help him bring out the food.

Moments later both of Harry's dads came out of the kitchen. Remus was carrying a large casserole dish filled to the brim with chicken pot pie, and Sirius had a large bowl of garden salad and glass bottles filled with salad dressing.

They sat the food down on the table that was already set for dinner. Sirius summoned a pitcher of iced tea from the kitchen and they all dug into the food. Remus' chicken pot pie was one of the most magnificent things that Harry had ever tasted. It was even better than Mrs. Weasley's. The rich, thick sauce was full of big chunks of chicken and the most fresh, crisp vegetables. Harry ate until he couldn't hold anymore, and so did everyone else at the table.

It was a much more comfortable meal that either Harry or Hermione had expected. It helped tremendously that Hermione had known Remus and Sirius for several years before they became Harry's parents, and they knew that she truly did care for Harry, and not his fame or his inheritance from his adoptive parents.

After dinner, they went back into the living room and Sirius turned on the WWN. They listened to a wizard/muggle crossover station for while until Harry and Hermione had to leave so that Hermione could do her rounds as headgirl, and Harry wouldn't miss curfew.

Sirius and Remus hugged both Harry and Hermione, and stood at the portrait door and watched the young couple walk away hand in hand.

"They're going to work," Sirius said.

Remus nodded in agreement and wrapped his arm around his mate's shoulders. They headed back inside to do their dinner dishes and get ready for bed, because they had classes the next day just like the kids did.

Hermione and Harry walked back to Gryffindor tower together, but this time it was Hermione who kissed Harry at the door and left to do her rounds before bedtime.

Harry stood at the door and watched his girlfriend walk away for a moment before giving The Fat Lady the password and heading into the tower.

The common room was mostly empty except for Seamus and Dean playing chess off to one side of the room. The two friends looked up and Dean asked, "Have a good evening Harry?"

"Yeah. Hermione and I had dinner with my dads." Harry said before heading up to the seventh year boys dorm.

Finding himself exhausted, Harry dropped onto this bed and was asleep before he even removed his shoes.


	14. Chapter 14

The next few weeks found Harry and Hermione spending more and more time together. They took their lunches out by The Black Lake for some peace and quiet, had dinner with Remus and Sirius, and with a little help from The Marauders' Map, they spent quite a few hours at night snogging in alcoves and dark corners.

One evening they were taking a walk along the quidditch pitch when, out of no where, it began to rain. The couple ducked under the stands and sat on the dry ground, hoping that the impromptu shower would soon leave.

As the rain got harder and harder, they realized that the brewing storm would not be ending anytime soon. Hermione crawled into Harry's lap and looked up at him. Harry grinned and began kissing his girlfriend.

Things got hotter and heavier until Hermione was laying on her back, clad only in her bra and knickers, on Harry's cloak, and Harry had only his trousers and boxers left to shed.

"I don't have anything with me." Harry said.

"I'm on the muggle birth control pill. It helps keep my skin clear." Hermione assured him.

Needing no further encouragement, Harry slipped out of his pants and boxers, and slipped Hermione's panties off.

Harry positioned himself between her legs and entered her slowly and carefully, knowing from some of his dorm mates that a girl's first time wasn't very pleasant for her.

Hermione gasped as Harry entered her and she felt the sharp sting of the loss of her virginity. A tear formed in each eye, but she quickly batted them away and focused on the boy that she loved and his sweet kisses, trying to distract her from the pain.

The sting between Hermione's legs began to fade into a dull ache, and was slowly being replaced by a warmth that was spreading through her abdomen and pooling between her legs.

As the pain almost completely faded, Hermione wrapped her legs around Harry back, causing him to thrust into her at a deeper angle, filling every inch of her and causing her to arch her back.

Hermione was getting closer and closer to orgasm, and Harry was fighting a losing battle to hold off on his. The beautiful witch under him, combined with her warm, tight channel hugging his member as he thrust in and out of her, was just too much for Harry to withstand and he soon lost control, spilling himself inside her. Harry's last few harder thrusts were just enough to pull Hermione into oblivion with him.

Harry held himself up on his arms long enough to plant kisses on Hermione's face and neck, before collapsing to the side of her and pulling her against his chest. "I love you, Hermione."

Hermione snuggled against her boyfriend and replied, "I love you too."

Harry noticed something. "The rain stopped. Someone will come looking for us before long, and I don't think we want to be found like this."

Hermione agreed and they both hurriedly got dressed. Hermione performed a taming charm on her hair and Harry ran his fingers through his, it wasn't looking much messier than usual, after all. Once they had given each other a once over, checking for anything out of place that would give away what they had spent their afternoon doing, they headed out from under the quidditch stands and out of the pitch.

The green eyed boy noticed that his girlfriend was walking a bit gingerly. "Did I hurt you?" He asked, concerned.

"I don't have much experience in this sort of thing, but honestly I think you're a bit bigger than average," Hermione said blushing. "You were careful and it was wonderful, and I know you were as gentle as possible."

A blush stained Harry's cheeks at Hermione's revelation and he pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry it had to hurt. I wish I could take it away."

Hermione smiled. "It was inevitable, it usually does hurt the first time. I don't regret anything."

The couple walked hand in hand back to the castle, passing a few of their friends and stopping to say hello here and there.

By the time they were entering the front doors of the castle, they counted themselves lucky because they hadn't run into any Slytherins, or even Ron. It had been an amazing afternoon and both Harry and Hermione were all smiles when they reached Gryffindor Tower and entered the common room.

Their happiness was short lived, however. The common room was packed with bored Gryffindors and Ron took that opportunity to shout out, "Oh look, the love birds are back. What have you two been doing in all this rain?"

"Something similar to what you do with your hand and that picture of Rita Skeeter, I'm sure." Hermione replied tartly.

Harry grinned at his dorm mates who all howled with laughter. He wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulders and gave her a squeeze as Ron stormed out of the common room and slammed the portrait behind him, causing The Fat Lady to squeal in displeasure.

Together, they plopped down on one of the many overstuffed couches after Ginny and Dean scooted even closer together to make room for the couple.

"You're brilliant, you know that?" Harry asked his girlfriend.

"So I've been told," Hermione said with a grin. "He's just so infuriating, I had to get him back somehow. I hope you don't mind that I sort of told everyone, even though they probably think I was kidding."

"I'm not ashamed of anything we did. I just didn't want anyone to catch us in that position. I don't care who knows. I love you, Hermione Granger." Harry replied, kissing her temple.

"And I love you, Harry Black." She responded, laying her head against his shoulder.

Ginny and Dean appeared to be too wrapped up in each other to notice Harry and Hermione, but as it turned out, they were quite aware of what the other couple was talking about. "They've made love!" Ginny whispered to her boyfriend.

"Harry's always said he wanted to wait until he knew the time was right," Dean told Ginny. "They must be really serious."

"Now I'll just have to keep an even closer eye on my brother. You'll help me won't you?" The red-head asked her dark skinned boyfriend.

"Of course. If anyone deserves happiness it's Harry. We won't let Ron ruin it." Dean agreed.


	15. Chapter 15

The next three weeks were quite peaceful for Harry and Hermione. Though they had not had any other opportunity to be together intimately, they had spent as much time together as possible, and it seemed to them that Ron had given up trying to annoy them.

Unknown to the couple, Dean and Ginny had recruited Neville and Seamus to help them buffer Ron's attempted attacks on the couple and between the four of them, with a little help from a few WWW products, they had been quite successful in giving Hermione and Harry three weeks of peace and quiet to enjoy their relationship.

It wasn't until one night when Neville and Seamus had received dentition from Professor Snape, and Dean and Ginny had quidditch practice that Ron was able to get near enough to Hermione and Harry to insult them.

"Look at the happy little couple," Ron sneered when he entered the common room.

Most of the Gryffindors who were not at quidditch practice just rolled their eyes and ignored the prejudiced red-head, but a few younger students perked up at the hope of a fight.

"Looking a little pudgy there Hermione, has the boy wonder got you knocked up already?" Ron continued. "Good little slut is she Harry?"

The students who hadn't been paying attention now were, and the common room was completely silent as Harry stood from the couch and faced Ron.

"Hermione. is. NOT. A. SLUT!" Harry started out calmly but ended up bellowing at his former friend.

"She sure dropped her pants awfully quick for the 'new guy' in the tower didn't..." Ron's insulting rant was quickly cut off by the right hook that Harry delivered to his jaw. Ron never saw it coming, thinking that Harry wouldn't risk his dating privileges by retaliating. Ron had been sorely wrong.

"I have been in this tower just as long as you have you insensitive, bigoted prick! Hermione Granger is a lady, and a right sight of a better person than you are. You will NOT speak of her that way again." Harry said, standing over his former friend, the boy he had considered the closest thing he ever had to a brother, until the previous summer.

The quidditch team was piling through the portrait door, chattering and discussing practice when they realized the completely silence of the common room and fell silent almost immediately.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked nervously.

No one in the room spoke until Hermione found her voice. "Your brother was being a right prat, and Harry decked him. I think I have to go get Professor McGonagall."

Hermione hurried out of the room in search of their head of house.

Harry sat back down on the couch that he had previous been curled up with Hermione on and Ginny, Dean, and the sixth year beaters from the quidditch team hauled Ron over to a chair on the other side of the room and guarded him until Hermione returned with Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Weasley! Mr. Black! I demand to know what is going on between the two of you this instant! You two were best friends at the end of last term!" Minerva McGonagall fumed as she entered the portrait door, Hermione slipping in behind her and quickly finding Harry. She stood next to him, squeezing his hand to show her support.

"Professor," Harry began. "When I learned of my true parentage this summer I owled several of my friends and informed them of the situation. Everyone was happy for me with the exception of Ron. He informed me that perhaps I should be ashamed of my gay parents. When I refused to be, he began to be nasty to me every time we were in the same space. He came into the common room and referred to Hermione as a slut and insinuated that she was getting fat, and therefore pregnant. I punched him in the jaw when he wouldn't shut up," Harry finished calmly.

"Mr. Weasley, is this true?" The matronly Professor looked at the red-head who was still being restrained by half of her quidditch team.

"It isn't my fault that the bookwork went and got herself blown up by the boy wonder." Ron said defensively.

"That's quite enough Mr. Weasley, you will come with me. I'll be sending a letter to your mother, and Professor Dumbledore and your parents will decide the rest of your fate. As for you Mr. Black, three nights detention for assaulting another student, and I'll be informing your fathers of your actions as well." Professor McGonagall led Ron out of the room, the portrait swinging shut behind her.

Harry paled, realizing that this was the first time he'd been in trouble since he had found his fathers, and had no idea what sort of punishment to expect.


	16. Chapter 16

When Harry turned around, Hermione had dropped his hand and sat down on the nearest couch, her face a bit pale.

"What's wrong Mione?" Harry asked, sitting beside his girl. "You know Ron's just an idiot."

"He might not be wrong," she whispered.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, a bit panicked.

"I've been taking my pills like I'm supposed to, at the same time, every day, but I never got my period last month. It's happened before, I have weird cycles anyway, but I had never had sex before, so I never worried about it, until now." Hermione said, still in a whisper.

"What do we do?" Harry asked, his face having gone pale as well.

"Well, Madame Pomfrey can do a spell to test and see if I am, but do we want her to know?" She asked.

"We don't have much choice do we? I mean, don't you need pills or something if you're going to have a baby? And don't you have to go to lots of doctors appointments?" Harry asked, a bit worried.

"Are you saying you'd be ok if I was pregnant?" Hermione asked timidly.

"Well, it's going to suck with us being so young, but I've got enough money from my adopted parents that we could live for a good long time, even if we never got jobs, and you know we both will, right after Hogwarts. I've always dreamed of having a wife and kids, I just didn't know it would happen before I graduated school." Harry said, looking off into space, not really even seeing Hermione. "I mean, sure it would be better if you weren't, and if you're not we'll just have to be more careful, and use more protection, but it won't be the end of the world if you are."

Hermione burst into tears of relief. "As soon as I realized I might be, I was terrified you wouldn't want me anymore," she whispered.

Harry pulled her close to him and hugged her, rubbing her back. "I love you Hermione, nothing's going to change that."

"There's a little time left before curfew, do you mind if we go now?" Hermione asked.

"Sure, let's go." Harry replied, standing and helping Hermione to her feet. "We'll be back in a few guys," he called to their friends, and winked at them, making them all think they were sneaking off to snog.

Together, the couple walked to the infirmary, where they found Madame Pomfrey in her office, putting things away for the night.

After they both assured here that there hadn't been an accident, and neither of them were ill, she ushered them into a pair of chairs in front of her desk, and sat down, waiting for the inevitable.

"Madame Pomfrey," Hermione started. "I think I need a pregnancy test."

The mediwitch raised an eyebrow, it wasn't usually the most bright students in the school who were coming to her for pregnancy scans. She listened as Hermione explained that she had been on the muggle pill, and was taking it very carefully, but had completely missed her monthly period.

"It's just a simple scan, I can do it with my wand, right here, right now, if you'd like." The mediwitch said kindly.

Hermione nodded, and Harry squeezed her hand. She looked to him and saw love and compassion in his eyes, and it calmed her nerves a bit.

Madame Pomfrey waved her wand above Hermione's head and incanted, "ostendo sum gravida" and they waited as two small bubbles appeared over Hermione's head and both of them turned green.

"I'm afraid you are pregnant Miss Granger, and with twins. At this early stage, we can't tell the gender, hence the pale green color of the bubbles. If you'd been farther along they would have turned either pink or blue.

"Twins?" Hermione asked in a small voice. "I'm only 17. I've got another year of school to finish."

Madame Pomfrey cleared her throat and said, "You have many options Miss Granger. You and Mr. Black can raise the children together, you can give them up for adoption, and there is one other option."

Hermione interrupted the mediwitch angrily. "Don't even say it! I know it's legal, and even useful in some cases, but it's not for me."

The mediwitch nodded, "I figured you'd say something along those lines, but it's my job to give you all your options, and help you make appointments as necessary."

"Thank you, but we won't need that option," Hermione nodded to the mediwitch and stood to leave the office.

Harry stood and followed her out, calling his thanks to the mediwitch as he headed out the door.

"What do you want to do?" Harry asked his girlfriend, slightly afraid of what she'd say.

The fear in Harry's voice didn't go unnoticed by Hermione, who instantly melted when she turned and saw Harry's face. "Oh Harry," she said, her eyes watering a bit. "We'll get through this, and of course we're keeping the children," she finished in a whisper. Harry pulled Hermione into an alcove with a bench, and sat her down, holding her close. "I have no idea what we're going to tell people. They act like we're their saviors or something, and now we've went and done this."

"Oh sod everyone's opinions." Hermione said angrily. "I'm sick of being idolized, and I know you are too. Besides, our parents reactions are the only thing we have to worry about, I think."

Harry banged his head against the stone wall. "I didn't even think of my dads, or your parents. Merlin, I wonder who'll kill me first."

"My parents will blame me as much as they blame you. I've been well educated on everything sexual since before I came to Hogwarts. They know that I know that the pill isn't 100% effective and we should have used a backup. Remus and Sirius will know that as well, considering they got pregnant with you, when babies like you were illegal."

"That's true. But they're still going to kill me," Harry groaned.

"They'll kill us both," Hermione said, trying unsuccessfully to make her boyfriend feel better.

"Who's going to kill you kids?" Remus said, walking around the corner after hearing his son and his son's girlfriend talking.

"Oh. Hello Remus." Hermione said, a bit unsure of what to say.

"Dad? Can we talk in your rooms?" Harry just came out and asked.

"Sure kids, come on. Let's go down now. I've pretty much finished my rounds." Remus said.

Hermione and Harry stood and followed Remus down the hall and down the staircases to the suite of rooms that Harry's dad's shared.

They all sat on the couch and Remus called for Sirius, "The kids have come for a visit," he said, calling his mate out to the living room.

"Hey kids, what brings you here so late? Moony find you snogging in an alcove?" Sirius teased.

"Not exactly," Remus answered for them. "They were talking about someone killing them when I walked up on them. What exactly were you kids talking about?"

"You're going to kill us," Hermione said bravely.

"And why would we kill you?" Sirius chuckled.

"Because she's pregnant. With twins." Harry answered, burying his face in his hands.


	17. Chapter 17

Sirius dropped down onto the couch beside Remus and was silent for the first time in his life, until he burst into laughter.

Hermione and Harry looked at each other, puzzled. "What are you laughing at dad?" Harry asked.

"Good joke kids, good joke. What were you really talking about?" Sirius asked.

"We're not joking." Harry said, shaking his head. "Hermione really is pregnant. She was on the muggle pill, but it didn't work."

Sirius was silent once again. "So, Moony and I are going to be grandparents?" He asked slowly.

"Yes Padfoot, it seems that we'll be grandparents, very good." Remus poked fun at his mate.

"You guys aren't mad?" Hermione asked.

"It wouldn't do any good for us to be angry, because what's done is done, but we aren't happy with your irresponsibility, though I suppose part of that is our fault, for not making sure Harry knew the right charms, or at least had a bit of muggle protection as well. " Remus said, comforting the scared teenagers a bit.

"And we will be talking later," Sirius said, looking directly at Harry, "But for now the two of you have to go and talk to Professor Dumbledore, because Madam Pomfrey will have to notify him within 10 days if you two don't and it would be best for you to tell him first."

Hermione and Harry looked at each other, unsure of the Headmaster's reaction.

"Harry, tell the Headmaster that you'll be spending the night with us, and floo back here from his office, so that Severus doesn't catch you out after curfew, he was supposed to take over rounds after my turn was over." Remus said.

"Ok dad." Harry said, worried about both the Headmasters reaction, and the talk he was going to have with his dads when he got back.

Remus wrote a note and gave it to Harry, in case Professor Snape stopped them on their way to the Headmaster's office, and the couple headed out of Harry's fathers' rooms and up to the tower where Dumbledore's office was located.

Together they spoke the password, "Fainting Fancy," and stepped onto the spiraling staircase to get to the Headmaster. Just as Harry was about to knock on the office door, it swung open and Dumbledore said "Come in, Harry, Hermione."

The couple entered the office and found the Headmaster in a purple armchair behind his desk. "What can I do for you at this late hour?" He asked, the ever present twinkle in his eye seeming even brighter.

"We have something that we need to tell you, Professor Dumbledore." Hermione began.

"Yes?" the Headmaster asked.

"Hermione's pregnant," Harry said bluntly.

"With twins," Hermione added.

"Oh my, I've very surprised at you Mr. Black, Miss Granger. You were the last students I would have expected to hear this from." Dumbledore said. "This is going to be very hard on both of you, you know this?"

When both Harry and Hermione nodded, the old wizard continued. "I take that Madame Pomfrey has given you all your options, and you've already chosen to keep the children and raise them?"

Harry and Hermione nodded again and Dumbledore continued again. "Things will have to change a bit. Miss Granger, I'm afraid that you can no longer continue your duties as Head Girl."

Hermione sniffled a bit, but Dumbledore continued. "Pregnancies are very rare at Hogwarts, and frowned upon, not only because of your ages, but also because this is a prestigious school of witch craft and wizardry and most parents will not look well upon a pregnant Head Girl."

Hermione's eyes were filled with tears, but she nodded, completely understanding where the Headmaster was coming from.

"If you two wish to live together, you will have to be married. Hogwarts rules do not allow for unmarried couples to live together. However, I will allow Mr. Black floo access from Gryffindor tower, to private rooms that you will receive for you and the children, if you choose not to marry. The choice is completely yours. Mr. Black will not be allowed to sleep over, but you can contact him at any time of the day or night to come and help you with the children." Dumbledore explained to Hermione.

"Harry, if you chose to propose to Miss Granger, I would be happy to facilitate the wedding, but if not, you are still expected to provide for Miss Granger and your children, as well as help her take care of them, and help to find, and if needed, pay for child care while they two of you are in classes." Dumbledore addressed Harry.

"You don't have to tell me that, sir." Harry said. "I plan on providing everything I can for Hermione, and our babies."

Dumbledore nodded. "I would expect nothing less from you Harry, I know how much you've always wished for a family," the older wizard said with a small smile.

"Hogwarts will not abandon either one of you, but there will be a few consequences for your actions. You've heard most of them, but I also need to make sure you understand everything. In order to pass your classes, you will have to complete all assigned work within a reasonable amount of time, even after you've had the baby. No extensions will be giving without an emergent reason. You will sit tests with the rest of the students, and unless you or the children are in the infirmary and very ill, no make up tests will be given."

Both Harry and Hermione understood, and after a few more minutes, Dumbledore let Hermione go back to her Head Girl rooms for the night, explaining that her things would be moved the following day. Harry walked Hermione to the door and hugged her goodbye, before flooing to his fathers' rooms.

When he tumbled through the floo and brushed himself off, Harry found Remus and Sirius both sitting on the couch waiting for his return.

"Have a seat son, we need to talk." Remus said.

Unable to tell from his voice, or either of his fathers' body language, if they were angry or not, Harry walked slowly to one of the plush arm chairs and sat down, waiting to hear what ever was coming.


	18. Chapter 18

As Harry was sitting down, dreading the talk that he was about to receive from his fathers, Hermione was going in the portrait to her Head Girl rooms for what would more than likely be the last time.

As she entered her small common room, she looked around at the pictures that she had placed around the room. The smiling faces of Ginny, Luna, Neville, herself, and Harry all stared back at her. Some were waving, some making sill faces and others just smiling happily.

With a flick of her wand, she conjured a throw pillow into a box, and with another flick, sent all of her pictures zooming into it. Another few flicks and all her personal items from the common room were in the box, and she headed for her bedroom.

Too tired to bother packing her clothes, Hermione dropped onto the bed, curled into a ball and cried herself to sleep.

"Harry, stop looking like you're headed for your execution. We're not going to kill you, or even yell at you, we just need to talk to you." Remus said, trying to reassure his son.

"Come over here and sit with us," Sirius offered. "You don't have to sit way over there like you're on trial."

Harry stood and walked to the couch, sitting between his dads.

"Harry, we just want to know how you're feeling about all this. And no matter how you're feeling, we're not going to be mad, or hate you, or yell at you. We just want to know if you're ok." Remus explained to his son.

"And we're going to support you and Hermione, no matter what you two choose." Sirius added. "Don't get me wrong, you're going to have a lot on your shoulders, and a lot of work, sleepless nights and diapers to change, but we don't want the babies to suffer if you're having problems, and if you need anything, you know we're always going to be here for you."

"Well, we decided that we're keeping the babies," Harry started off.

"That's good," Sirius said. "As young as you are, I think I'd hate to see my grandkids adopted by another family.

"And honestly I'd like to marry her, but I don't want to push her into anything. I love her so much, but I don't want her to feel like she's got to marry me." Harry said, looking to his dad's for guidance.

"As unromantic as it would be, I think you probably need to talk to Hermione about how she feels about it before you decide if you're going to propose or not." Remus suggested.

"Professor Dumbledore says that if we're not married, that I can floo to her rooms to help her with the babies, but I'm not allowed to stay the night with them. I don't want to spend that much time away from my kids." Harry said, looking up into the sympathetic faces of his fathers.

"We know how awful it is to be away from your child," Sirius said, pulling Harry into a hug.

Harry broke down then. "I'm scared dad."

"I figured you were, son. That's a huge part of why we're not angry with you. We know you didn't do this on purpose, and we're going to be here to help you. I won't lie and say that it's going to be easy, but we will be here for you. I promise you that much." Sirius said, holding his son tightly.

Remus scooted close to his son and mate and wrapped his arms around them both, and both fathers held their son as he cried out his fears and frustrations.

"What if I'm not a good father?" Harry asked so quietly that his fathers barely heard him.

"You're going to do fine, Harry." Sirius comforted.

"Everyone has a learning curve son. Everything is going to be new, but you'll get it right. I know you will." Remus added.

Harry and his dads stayed up talking late into the night, and unfortunately for Harry, their talking included a long talk about protection and birth control spells, as well as muggle protection such a condoms and spermicide.

By the time the three men went to bed, they were all thoroughly exhausted a bit embarrassed.

Harry lay awake in his bed for some time after his fathers had fallen asleep, contemplating his future, now that children were involved in it.

After Harry dozed off he dreamed of himself and Hermione, and their two children. Hermione breastfeeding one as he gave the other a bottle, feeding them their first solid foods, running and playing at the park. Harry could see his future and loved every second of it.

When he awoke the next morning to get ready for class, he knew that he wanted to propose to Hermione and make her his wife.


	19. Chapter 19

_AN: Thanks to Sara for giving me the pushes I need to keep this story going, and for giving me ideas when my brain goes completely blank. _

Harry climbed out of his bed happily and went straight for the shower. After he was cleaned up and dressed, he headed for the living room.

When Harry came out of his room, his dads were in the kitchen drinking tea and trying to wake up.

"I want to ask Hermione to marry me." Harry said, entering the kitchen.

His dads looked up from their tea, a bit bewildered. "Are you sure?" Sirius asked.

"Yup. Absolutely." Harry answered.

"Your father and I will have to talk about this first, before we can give our permission." Remus said.

"I figured, that's why I told you now. I'd like to purpose soon, and I figured you two would need time to think." Harry explained.

His fathers nodded, impressed that their son was thinking ahead, even if it was only a few days ahead.

Harry said goodbye to his fathers, for the day, and headed to meet Hermione and escort her to breakfast.

When they met outside Gryffindor tower, Hermione's eyes were still red and puffy, and it was quite obvious that she hadn't gotten much sleep, which made Harry feel about guilty when he thought of the pleasant dreams that he had the night before.

"Good morning love," Harry said gently as he took her hand.

"Morning," Hermione said, her voice sounded a little depressed and it was obvious that she wasn't going to be as cheery as Harry for a little while.

"We have to tell everyone," Hermione said quietly. "I have to move out of my Head Girl rooms today, and tonight at dinner I think Dumbledore will have to announce the new Head Girl. I packed all my personal things last night and the elves are supposed to move them to a new set of rooms down the hall from where I was."

Harry stopped in the middle of the hallway and pulled Hermione into a tight hug. "We'll start with Ginny and Luna and we can go from there, ok?"

Hermione nodded, tears shining in her eyes, and they continued to the Great Hall.

Harry stopped her once more just outside the giant doors. "I'm sorry Hermione. I'm really sorry. I'd go back in time and use a spell or something if I could, but I would never change making love you to. I love you so much, and we're going to love these babies more than anything in the world. I know it changes our future a lot, but we'll get through it, I promise you that."

Hermione threw her arms around Harry's neck and hugged him tightly. "Thank you. I think I needed to hear that," she whispered.

Harry kissed her cheek and they headed into breakfast together.

Sitting down beside Ginny, with Harry on her other side, Hermione ate a piece of dry toast and drank a cup of tea quietly.

Ginny gave her friend a pointed look, but didn't say anything.

"I need to talk to you after last class today," Hermione said quietly. "Harry and I will meet you in the Room of Requirement at 3."

Ginny nodded, very curious about what was going on, but figured that she had some idea, so rather than questioning her friend, she just agreed and got up to head to her first class. "I'll see you then, I've got Potions first thing this morning, and we all know how bat-boy gets if anyone is late."

The red-headed witch's joke brought a small smile to Hermione's face, and she and Harry waved goodbye to their friend, and Hermione watched, slightly green, as Harry gulped down the rest of his breakfast so that they could get to Defense class on time.

Harry and Hermione reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with two minutes to spare and the other students had just began to trickle in the door. Remus stood in the front of the classroom, marking students names off his attendance sheet as they came in the door, and nodded to Harry as he and Hermione entered. Sirius waved from behind the desk. The couple smiled at Harry's father as they headed to their seats. Class was always more fun with Sirius was in attendance.

The bell rang and Remus called the class' attention to the front of the room. He began a short lecture on nonverbal shield charms and jinxes. He and Sirius then demonstrated a nonverbal duel for the class, before putting them to work in pairs.

"Hermione, Harry, I'm sorry to interrupt your practice," Remus said, before they even got started, "But I need the two of you to run an errand for me."

Harry looked at his father quizzically, but Hermione seemed to fully understand and headed straight for Remus' desk.

Remus handed her a note and said "Your instructions are on the note. Go on out into the corridor and read it, then get busy," he instructed.

When the couple closed the classroom door behind them, Harry took the note from Hermione and opened it.

It read:

_Harry and Hermione,_

_I'm sorry to have to send you out of class, but I couldn't very well take the chance on Hermione being stunned, even though I'm sure your shielding spells would have been flawless, I just didn't want to take the chance on my grandchildren. _

_Go on to Hermione's new rooms and get everything put away. They are two doors down, in the same hallway as the Head Girl rooms, and the password is Popping Poppet. _

_This parchment will turn to ash as soon as you finish reading it and tap it with your wand._

_Love_

_Remus_

Hermione looked at Harry, who had finished reading the parchment at almost the same time as she did, and when he nodded, she folded the note back and tapped it with her wand, and just as Remus had said, it turned into a cool pile of ash in his hand, which he brushed away.

"Shall we then?" Harry asked, dramatically holding out his arm for Hermione to take.

"Why, yes." Hermione replied, equally dramatically. "We shall!"

The couple took off down the hallway toward Hermione's new rooms, eager to see what she would have.


	20. Chapter 20

When Harry and Hermione entered the new rooms, they weren't very surprised. It was much like her Head Girl rooms had been, with the exception of a larger bedroom, with a very non-spectacular crib sitting a few feet from the queen sized bed.

Hermione's boxes were stacked neatly against the wall in the living room.

"Dobby?" Harry called.

Dobby the house-elf popped right in, "Yes, Harry Black Sir?"

"Dobby please don't call me sir," Harry began, but before he could finish his sentence, the little elf fell to the floor and started banging his head against it. "Dobby stop!" Harry shouted over the loud bangs that Dobby's head was making as it bounced off the floor.

"Yes, Harry Black?" Dobby asked again.

"I was just wondering if you were the one who moved Hermione's things?" Harry asked slowly.

"Yes, Dobby moved Harry Black's girlfriends things to her new rooms. Professor Dumbledore told Dobby to." Dobby's big glasses eyes began to water as he looked at Harry.

"Thank you Dobby," Harry said, "You did a wonderful job." His comment earned Harry a squeeze and a small smile from Hermione.

"Dobby would you mind unpacking Hermione's bed clothes and fixing her bed for her? It's almost time for us to go to Transfiguration and I know she's going to be tired when we get back from there."

"Yes Harry Black, Dobby will make missy's bed for her right away," the little elf said happily.

"Thank you Dobby, that's very kind," Hermione said, for once just grateful that she didn't have to do it herself.

Hermione went to one of the boxes that Dobby had left in the sitting room and opened it. It was the box that contained all the pictures of her friends. Hermione used her wand and began to use temporary sticking charms to place the pictures on the walls around her sitting room. The last picture she placed was one that she enlarged a bit and placed over the fireplace. It was one of herself and Harry, sitting together in the Great Hall, laughing at Ginny and Dean, who were poking fun at Ron.

The curly haired witch smiled as she thought of the love that she felt when she was with their friends. Ron was the only friend who had changed his attitude toward either one of them since Harry had found his family, and they had began dating.

"Hermione?" Harry asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. "It's time to go to Transfiguration."

Hermione nodded and Harry took her hand as they walked out of the portrait door and toward Professor McGonagall's classroom.

The Professor looked at Harry and Hermione, and frowned slightly at them, as they entered the room.

Hermione looked down at the floor and hurried to her seat, while Harry held his head high and walked at a normal pace to his place beside his pregnant girlfriend.

"I know we made a mistake, but don't be ashamed love." Harry reached over and squeezed her hand, before letting go and getting his books out of his bag and getting ready for class.

Transfiguration went quickly and by the end of class, Hermione had cheered up a bit after earning 5 points to Gryffindor for her perfect transfiguration of a quill into a canary. Her happy mood was, however, ruined when Professor McGonagall asked her to stay after class.

Harry waiting around for her but was quickly dismissed by the Professor, so he sat out in the hall and waiting on his girlfriend.

Hermione came out a few moments later, close to tears. "Professor McGonagall wanted to let me know that she's very disappointed in me, and that the new Head Girl is Hannah Abbott, and it will be announced at dinner tonight."

Harry made a face and hugged his girlfriend. "Let's go eat, then we've got a free period before we have to meet Ginny and Luna."

Together, they walked to lunch and surprisingly, Hermione found herself absolutely ravenous and ended up eating three plates of food before headed out to the lake to sit with Harry until time to meet the girls.

"I think we should tell a few more people," Harry said. "I'm tired of everyone blaming you and telling you how disappointed they are in you, when it's just as much my fault, if not more my fault, as it is yours. I'm the one who didn't know the right charms."

Hermione nodded. "If you want."

"I think we should invite Neville, Dean and Seamus too. Anyone else you can think of?" Harry asked.

"Lavender, Hannah and the Patil twins." Hermione said. "I know they're gossip hounds, but they're also pretty good friends sometimes."

"Good. Invite them and I'll tell the boys. We'll let Ron find out with the rest of the school."

"Should we owl anyone before we start telling people?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe we should tell Fred, George and Lee." Harry suggested. "They were the first people, other than you, who supported me about my dads and my decision to change my name. And George and Lee came out to me first."

"I think that would be good. I have to go to my parents this weekend. Dumbledore arranged to have their fireplace connected to the floo network and I have to tell them this weekend." Hermione said, sounded a bit frightened.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Harry asked.

"No. I think I should probably do this on my own. You can come with me next time. I'm sure there will be a next time."

"Ok. If you change your mind, just let me know. I'll go with you." Harry said.

"I know you will. You're amazing." Hermione said as she leaned in to kiss her boyfriend.

"Let's go owl Fred and George. Lee will be at the shop with them, and it's almost time to meet everyone, and we still have to tell everyone else to meet us." Harry said.

"You owl the boys and tell your dorm mates to meet us, and I'll go find Lavender, Hannah, Pavarti and Padma. I'll meet you in the Room of Requirement in 20 minutes." Hermione suggested.

The couple shared one last kiss, before getting to their feet and heading in their separate ways to take care of their tasks.


	21. Chapter 21

Harry and Hermione met in the Room of Requirement, and found it looking a lot like a generic Hogwarts common room. There were plenty of plush chairs and a couple of comfy couches positioned around a grand fire place that was already crackling.

Slowly people started to trickle in, until all nine of their invited friends were scattered around them. At first, no one spoke, and everyone looked to be a bit uncomfortable.

Ginny spoke up first. "So why did you call us all here? What's going on?"

"I had to move rooms this morning. There is going to be a new Head Girl announced at dinner tonight." Hermione began.

"What!" Ginny interrupted, outraged. "Why?"

"I'm pregnant." Hermione said simply.

Everyone in the room was completely silent. They seemed to be waiting for someone to say "Just kidding," "Gotcha," or "April Fools," even though it was mid-December.

Lavender was the first one to speak up, "Really? You're having a baby?" She said with a grin.

"Babies, actually," Harry said with a warm smile as he placed his hand on Hermione's still flat stomach.

"Twins?" The Patil sisters squealed.

"I KNEW something was off at breakfast this morning!" Ginny said with an uncharacteristically girly squeak.

"We're about 10 weeks pregnant right now," Hermione said.

Ginny jumped up and hugged her. "I'm so happy for you guys! Does mum know yet?"

Hermione smiled a little, and soon was surrounded by the other girls chattering about baby names and baby showers and all manner of other things baby related. Harry kissed Hermione's cheek and slipped away to sit closer to the guys who hadn't said much, but had scooted closer to the fire, in order to get a bit of distance between themselves and the squealing girls.

Harry walked up to the small group of guys and looked at them, awaiting their response.

"Well, daddy, have a seat," Neville said with a girl.

"Congrats man," Seamus said.

"Better you than me," Dean said with a grin, shooting a look in Ginny's direction.

"Everyone's being so hard on her. Just her. Like it's all her fault." Harry said a bit sadly. "McGonagall told her how disappointed in her she was, Dumbledore took away her Head Girl position, and she's been so sad. I'm glad the girls were able to cheer her up a little."

"If anyone can cheer her up, it's those chatty girls, and Ginny." Dean said with a laugh.

"Even Hannah is getting in on the baby talk over there," Neville observed with a laugh.

The boys sat around laughing, talking, and teasing Harry, until nearly dinnertime, when they decided that they should shake the girls out of their baby obsession and take them down to dinner.

One by one every person present hugged Hermione, and most of them hugged Harry, and headed out the door. Dean and Ginny went out together, pausing to congratulate the expecting couple once again, before closing the door to the Room behind them.

Harry and Hermione were the last couple to exit the Room of Requirement, and before they did, Harry asked, "Are you feel better?"

"A little," she admitted. "It was nice to talk to people who didn't want to remind me how I've ruined my future or how bad it is that I got pregnant in school."

Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione, and she continued to talk. "I feel the same way you do, if I could go back in time, I'd use a spell or something to stop this from happening right now, but I wouldn't change what we did for anything in the world. I love you Harry, and I'm sorry that I've been wrapped up in myself these past two days and haven't even thought of your feelings."

"Oh baby it's alright. You've had a lot to process. I just went from no family to two dads, two kids and some day, I hope, a wife. I've just been marveling in all I've gained, while you've lost quite a bit. I'm not upset with you I promise. I love you and our babies more than anything in the world, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that you all three know that every day, for the rest of my life." Harry said, looking into her eyes.


	22. Chapter 22

The next ten weeks were both heaven and hell for Harry and Hermione.

After the new Head Girl was announced, gossip spread quickly around the school, and only a few days later, Harry had stood up on a bench in the Great Hall during dinner and announced that yes, Hermione was pregnant with twins and the babies were his, and that anyone with a problem with it should come to him.

Ron spent most of his time smirking every time he saw the couple, his little jab had actually been right. It also seemed that he didn't feel the need to taunt and tease the couple anymore, because the majority of Slytherin house, other than Pansy Parkinson, had taken over for him, ten fold.

Most of the school's reaction had been mostly non-interest.

Hagrid had come up to both Harry and Hermione after the announcement and enveloped them in a much gentler version of one of his body crushing hugs, and with a tear in his eye, said "Congratulations you two. You're finally getting the family you both deserve."

Professor Snape's reaction had been pretty well non-existent. He had simply given Hermione written assignments twice as long as everyone else's when they had a potion to do that would be too dangerous for Hermione to brew, and put up a thick barrier between Hermione and the rest of the students when the potion was safe for her to brew, incase any dunderheads blew up their cauldrons.

Charms, History of Magic, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy were all non-dangerous classes and so none of the teachers even mentioned her pregnancy, though she wasn't sure Binns would have noticed if she'd given birth in the middle of class.

Remus and Sirius had been doing a lot more reading and written working, and were taking the class outside for their practical work. Remus allowed Hermione to sit behind a protective barrier while the rest of the class practiced, and then allowed her to do her practical work with himself or Sirius, very carefully.

The worst part for Hermione hadn't been anyone at the school's reaction, it had been her parents'. Her mother had burst into tears, and her father hadn't done much better. They had both told her they loved her, and would always be there for her and the children, no matter what, but it was just so shocking, and a bit upsetting, that their beautiful baby girl had gotten pregnant with another year to go in school, and with twins.

Her pants had long gotten too tight and she'd enlarged them as much as enlarging spells would allow without damaging the cloth, or risking the spell breaking and squeezing her half to death.

Luckily for her, they had a free weekend coming up and Harry was forcing her to let him take her shopping for some comfortable, soft, maternity clothes after their doctors appointment at St. Mungo's on Friday evening.

The couple had plans to stay with Harry's fathers at Grimmauld Place after their appointment so that they could take as much time Friday night and Saturday making Hermione as comfortable as possible.

Hermione was walking down the hall alone, headed from Arithmancy to meet Harry outside the Great Hall for lunch when she heard. "Well hello waddles," from behind her.

Great, she though, another Slytherin.

"What do you want Millicent?" Hermione asked, exhausted from the walk from the Arithmancy classroom and just wanting to sit down and get a drink.

"Just noticed how fat and slow you've gotten," the snake girl said, pushed roughly by Hermione, shoving her into the wall a bit.

Ginny rounded a corner and came upon Hermione being pushed into the wall and when she saw the offending Slytherin, she shouted "Enlargen Grotesqua!" and Hermione watched as enormous bat shaped bogeys came streaking out of Millicent's nose and began to beat her around her head and shoulders.

Hermione stood straight and pushed herself away from the wall, rubbing her side where she had fallen into the stone, and headed on to dinner with Ginny, "Don't mention this to Harry," she asked.

"I won't, but you will!" Ginny insisted.

"I'll tell him tonight after the appointment with the maternity healer. We're supposed to find out if they're boys, girls, or one of each, today." Hermione said with a smile. "I think it's girls and Harry thinks it's boys, so I guess we'll see if one of us is right, or if we're both wrong."

Hermione's diversion had worked, or so she thought, and Ginny continued to talk about the babies, until they met up with Harry and Dean outside the Great Hall. "Don't forget what I said," Ginny reminded her as she and dean went to sit down and Harry took Hermione's hand and walked her to the table to sit down.

"What did she mean?" Harry asked.

"Oh we were just talking about some girl things in the hall on the way here," Hermione brushed off.

"Ok." Harry said, giving her a curious look. "How are you feeling?"

"My feet and my back are killing me. These babies aren't even that big yet, but I feel like I'm carrying around a couple of two year olds the way they roll and kick and press on my back."

Just then, their talk was interrupted by a shouting Slytherin fourth year, Kate Farwell, who had come running into the Great Hall. "Millicent Bulstrode's just been knocked out by one of her own bogeys! Someone come and help her!"

Harry shot a look at Ginny, and pulled Hermione back down to the table as she started to follow everyone else who was trying to get a glimpse of the Slytherin who was out cold in the corridor.

"Some how I don't think you told me the entire truth about what you and Ginny were talking about in the hall, Hermione." Harry said, slightly annoyed.

Hermione sighed, "Millicent Bulstrode knocked into me and informed me that I'm getting fatter and slower by the day. She knocked me into the wall and that's when Ginny came around the corner and hexed her. That's all."

"That's all? Merlin Hermione, she assaulted you!" Harry said, outraged.

"Harry, please don't make a big deal out of it. Ginny's already going to get in trouble for hexing her. You know I'm not going to get any special treatment just because I'm pregnant, and if I wasn't pregnant this would just be another house rivalry issue." Hermione pleaded.

"Alright. But only because Ginny already got her knocked out. But if she does anything again..." Harry said.

"She won't," Hermione tried to reassure her boyfriend, but knew that she was probably lying.


	23. Chapter 23

A few hours later, after the last class of the day and after Ginny had been sentenced to clean toilets with Mr. Filch all weekend, Harry, Hermione, Remus and Sirius met in the entryway of the castle, and walked down to the apparation point just outside the school's wards, and apparated to St. Mungo's Hospital.

After telling the welcome witch their reason for being there, and getting the customary directions and "have a nice day," from the witch, they headed up to the maternity ward, where Hermione would see her healer.

They entered the bright, cheery waiting room and Hermione went to the desk to sign in.

After waiting a few minutes, a nurse came and took Hermione and Harry back to an examination room. The nurse used her wand to transfigure Hermione's clothes into a gown, then took her weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, measured her stomach, and had her sit down on the exam table.

"The healer will be in to see you shortly." The nurse said as she left the room, putting Hermione's file in the little box beside the door.

"I'm nervous," Hermione admitted.

"Nervous? Why?" Harry asked.

"Just worried about the babies, and finding out their genders just makes it a little more real, you know? I mean, obviously it's real, my pants don't fit," she said with a laugh. "But now we can pick out furniture and bedding, clothes, toys, books, names. We can pick out everything for them, and we'll be seeing it every day, until they come, and then they'll be seeing it every day. Goodness I hope we do everything right."

Harry listened as his nervous girlfriend rambled, nodding his head at the appropriate times and doing his best to pay attention as she continued to talk about how she hoped they did right by the children and then began to talk about how much they needed to read to them and play with them.

The doctor chose that moment to finally come into their room, interrupting Hermione's nervous rambling and saving Harry's sanity.

"Good evening. I'm Healer Davis." The older man said, shaking Harry's and Hermione's hand.

"I'll be taking care of you through out the rest of your pregnancy, and for a few weeks after the baby is born, if that's alright with you. If at any time you're not satisfied with my care, please let me know and I can try to make it better, or you can chose another Healer from our department." The healer continued, looking at Hermione and then Harry to make sure they were both paying attention. When they both nodded, he continued.

"Your weight is just fine, your blood sugar and blood pressure are both excellent and you're measuring right on schedule. Now we need to do the scan to see how the little ones are doing."

The doctor pulled his wand out of a holster on his left forearm and had Hermione lay back on the table. He weaved an intricate spell across her swollen abdomen and a small ball of light began to glow above it. As he continued to weave the spell, the ball of light got bigger and bigger until both babies could be seen quite clearly in the little bubble.

Once both babies were clear to them, he stopped doing the spell and began doing measurements on the babies. He finished up and said, "Both children looks amazingly perfect. They're about the same size, I would estimate 14 ounces for Baby A and 13 ounces for Baby B."

Harry squeezed Hermione's hand and they both smiled. "So they're both doing good?" Harry asked, just to be sure.

"Both of them are perfect. From what I can see they both have 10 fingers and 10 toes and everything is developing properly." The healer confirmed.

"And?" Hermione asked, eager to know who had correctly predicted the gender.

"What do you mean?" The healer said, pretending innocence.

"Are they boys or girls?" Hermione said, exasperated.

The healer laughed. "Sorry guys, I have to make sure you actually want to know the gender. Plenty of people get angry if you tell them the gender when they didn't want to know."

Healer Davis took his wand and drew two circles on the picture that was still floating above Hermione's abdomen.

"If you look right here," he said, pointing to the first circle, "Baby A is a boy, and if you look right here," he pointed to the second circle, "It's pretty obvious that Baby B is a girl."

Hermione began to laugh, "I guess we were both right and wrong,"

Harry grinned. "I don't care if they're boys or girls or what. I'm just glad they're healthy."

"I thought it was two girls, and Harry thought it was two boys," Hermione explained to the healer.

"Well then I think you were both right, you've got one of each. Congratulations Ms. Granger, Mr. Black. Do you have any questions?"

"I don't," Harry said. "Do you, 'Mione?"

"No, I think I'm very happy with our appointment today. I'm ready to go home and get something to eat," she said with a little laugh. "These two make me feel like I'm eating for an army, not just the three of us."

The healer laughed, "You're right in the stage for crazy cravings. Have fun with that Mr. Black."

With that warning, he waved his wand over Hermione's abdomen again, first printing magical pictures of the babies for the couple, then vanishing the bubble and turning Hermione's gown back into her regular robes.

"Ready to go get you some clothes that fit?" Harry asked.

"Uggghhhh." She groaned. "I hate shopping."

"I know love, but Molly and Fleur are going to take you around town and get you everything you'll need in this one trip, so that you don't have to do it again until we're ready to shop for baby clothes." Harry comforted her.

"I know, and I'm really grateful that they are, I just want to go eat and go home." Hermione said as they walked out the door to meet Remus and Sirius.

As soon as they stepped into the waiting room, they were face to face with Sirius "Well? What are you having?"

Harry laughed. "You'll have to wait until the announcement that we're making at dinner, after Hermione does her clothes shopping."

"But I'm the Grandpaaaaa," Sirius fake whined.

Remus punched his fiance playfully in the shoulder and said "Yes, old man, you're one of the Grandpas, but the kids want to wait to tell us, so we'll wait."

Hermione smiled at Remus and they all headed downstairs. Molly and Fleur would be meeting them at The Leaky Cauldron, where they would do their shopping in both muggle London, and a bit in Diagon Alley. Muggles really did have more comfortable maternity wear than wizards.

When they got to The Leaky Cauldron, Molly and Fleur were no where to be seen, so Harry ordered tea and biscuits for everyone, so that they could have a bit of a snack before Hermione went off shopping with the girls, and he, Remus and Sirius went off on a little shopping trip of their own.


	24. Chapter 24

_AN: Thanks everyone for sticking by me through this. I know the wait has been long, but I hope you will stick with me through the next few chapters. We're almost there. _

Molly and Fleur entered the restaurant after Hermione had her second cup of tea and was working on her third biscuit, and was feeling a bit better about shopping.

Soon the two women had dragged her out of the restaurant and out into muggle London, both of them having come dressed in regular clothing, with their robes shrunken and in their pockets, for when they switched back over to Diagon Alley.

As soon as the girls left, the boys headed out the back, into the little garden where Remus tapped the brick wall with his wand, and the archway into Diagon Alley opened for them.

Hurrying along, wanting to complete their task before the girls were finished with Hermione, they headed straight for Morrissette's Magical Gems. When they reached the lovely little shop they stopped to read the sign out front. "Diamonds and Rubies, to Moonstone and Emeralds, we've got what you need to make an impression"

"Good," Harry said after reading the sign, "Because this ring better make one hell of an impression."

Sirius and Remus chuckled and ushered their son into the shop. They were met right away by Madame Morrissette herself, which was considered to be a great honor, as almost no one ever met the woman.

"When I heard the infamous Sirius Black was coming to my shop, I had to be here personally. No one ever thought they would see Sirius Black looking for an engagement ring." Madame Morrissette said, eyeing Sirius, but paying very little attention to Harry or Remus.

"Oh Madame Morrissette, you wound me, but I'm not here for me, at least not today. I'm here to help my son Harry pick out an engagement ring for his girlfriend. They've having twins, making me a grandpa, and Harry wants to marry his beautiful little witch." Sirius said proudly.

"I had heard of your son with Mr. Lupin. Congratulations to all of you. What sort of ring are you looking for child?" she said as she turned to Harry.

"Hermione's favorite color is purple, and she likes silver a lot better than gold. I want her to have a diamond too though." Harry explained.

"I think I have a few pieces that you would like." the Madame said, going behind the counter, opening one of the display cases and pulling out a small box with about a dozen rings in it.

"That's it!" Harry said as soon as the box was placed on top of the display case.

Remus and Sirius looked over his shoulders. "It's beautiful Harry, nice choice." Remus said.

"Looks like our boy didn't need our help after all." Sirius said, still beaming with pride. "Very nice choice son."

Madame Morissette personally charmed the ring to adjust to Hermione's size when Harry put it on her finger, and then boxed and wrapped the ring. Before they knew it, they were heading out the door with Harry so happy he was practically floating.

"Come down out of the clouds there son," Sirius said, loving watching his son be so happy.

"So what are we going to do until time to meet up with the girls?" Harry asked.

"We could go back to The Leaky Cauldron, Remus and I could have a firewhiskey and you could have a butterbeer to celebrate our excellent news." Sirius suggested.

Both Harry and Remus agreed and they headed back to the little restaurant for drinks while they waited on the girls.

A couple of butterbeers and firewhiskeys later, Hermione reentered the little pub, and Remus excused himself to go make a firecall to confirm that the rest of their party was waiting on them at the restaurant.

Hermione slid into a chair beside Harry, and he took her hand. "How was your shopping trip?" Harry asked.

She smiled. "It was alright. I tried on way too many clothes, and Molly and Fleur wouldn't let me get out of there without every single thing that I could possibly need for anytime between now and when the babies are twelve, I'm sure."

Harry laughed. "I'm glad you got everything you needed. Where are Molly and Fleur?"

"Oh they had to head home. Victorie was upset and wanting Fleur, and Molly wanted to get a head start on dinner." Hermione said.

Harry hid a grin. "That's too bad."

"Yeah, I was hoping they were going to eat dinner with us." Hermione said.

"Speaking of dinner," Remus said, walking back up to the table. "It's almost four. Are you guys ready to go?"

The two couples stood, and Sirius went to pay for their drinks. When he came back, they headed for one of the public floos that the Leaky offered, and Harry and Hermione entered first.

Before Harry threw down the floo powder, Sirius pointed his wand at them, and Hermione was thoroughly confused when their clothes were transfigured into a tuxedo for Harry and a beautiful, purple, shimmering maternity dress for Hermione.

She was even more confused when Harry dropped the floo powder and clearly spoke "Scarpetta Italiana," but didn't have enough time to ask what was going on, before she felt the whirl of the floo.


	25. Chapter 25

When they stepped out of the floo, they were in a beautiful Italian restaurant that Hermione had never seen before.

Harry ushered a shocked Hermione out from in front of the fireplace so that Sirius and Remus, who had also transfigured their clothes into tuxedos that were very similar to Harry's, could step through into the restaurant.

As Hermione looked around, taking in the beautiful party room that they had stepped into, she realized that the people seated at the other tables around the room were all familiar to her. The more she looked, the more people she recognized, until she realized that everyone in the room was someone that she knew.

"What's going on?" She asked as Remus and Sirius stepped up beside her.

"Oh just a little party to celebrate our grandchildren," Sirius said with a big grin as he went to greet everyone.

Hermione had no more time to be confused or puzzled, because it was then that Molly and Arthur Weasley came up to hug her, and she was swept into at least a dozen hugs, and then the waiters came in with drinks and hors d'oeuvres, and Harry collected her to have a seat at the table at the front of the room, with Remus and Sirius.

They had just finished their desserts when Harry pulled Hermione to her feet. "Where are we going?" Hermione asked, her confusion resuming.

Harry didn't answer, just simply lead the mother of his children to the center of the room. Casting a light sonorus charm on himself so that the entire room could hear what he was about to say. "Hermione, I know we've only been together a few months and we've already got two babies on the way, but I've known you since I was 11, and you've been my best friend through everything. No matter what's happened, you've stuck by me, you've always been there for me. I'd like to make it forever."

With that, Harry dropped to one knee and pulled a little black velvet box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal a white gold band with a large brilliantly cut, crystal clear diamond in the middle, and scattered with small amethysts all around the edges. "Hermione Jean Granger, would you please be my wife? Make a family with me and our kids?"

Hermione's eyes welled with tears as she nodded and Harry took her left hand, sliding the ring onto it.

Harry stood and swept his pregnant fiancé into his arms, spinning her in a circle as they kissed, and the occupants of the room cheered.

"I've got one more surprise for you," Harry said with a smile.

Dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief that someone had pressed into her hands, Hermione looked at Harry. "What else could their be?"

Two figures stepped out of the dark on one side of the room, and Hermione's jaw dropped open.

Her mother rushed forward and wrapped Hermione in a hug. "I'm sorry that I haven't written you or been there for you. Even though I was upset, I should have still been there to support you. I know you're scared and you're upset and as your mother I should have been there," she profusely apologized.

"I understand you were shocked mum," Hermione began.

"That's not an excuse," her mother interrupted. "Upset or not, you're my baby, and you're making me a grandmother. Yes, it's a bit earlier than I'd hoped, but we Grangers don't turn our backs on our family. I'm sorry baby."

"It's ok mum, really. I'm not upset at you. I'm just glad to have you back," Hermione said, crying again.

Mother and daughter hugged around the awkwardness of Hermione's expanding belly, and were embraced by Hermione's father. "I'm sorry pumpkin." Jonathan Granger said, "You'll always be my princess, no matter what."

This brought a sob from Hermione, and a smile from Harry who was now standing between his fathers, just watching his fiancé reunite with her parents.

"You did good son," Sirius commented, and Remus nodded in agreement.

"Thanks dad, and...dad," Harry said with a bit of a laugh. That was still a bit weird to him, dad and dad.

Just then, Jonathan Granger let go of his wife and daughter and walked up to Harry. "I don't have to give you a speech about taking good care of my daughter, because I know you've been the one taking care of my princess while my wife and I were off being idiots. Thank you."

"I love Hermione, sir. No thanks needed." Harry replied, looking the slightly taller man in the eye.

"Good. Keep taking care of her, and we'll be just fine. And don't call me sir, it's Jonathan." Mr. Granger said.

"Alright, Jonathan," Harry said, trying out his soon to be father in law's first name.

The party began to flow with the champagne and sparkling cider. There was dancing and light drinking, and the entire Weasley clan, minus Ron of course, The Grangers, The Blacks and the soon to be married couple spent the rest of the evening in absolute bliss.

Once they had said their goodbyes to their guests and flooed back to Grimmauld Place, Harry and Hermione, with Harry's fathers' permission, headed for Harry's old bedroom to lay down.

Hermione changed out of her shimmery dress and into a pair of pajamas, and collapsed onto the bed. "I don't know where you're going to sleep," Hermione said from her spot in the middle of the bed. "Because I'm not moving."

"I think I could persuade you to move," Harry said with a smile. "How about a foot rub?"

That made Hermione scoot a bit to make room for Harry, and he sat on the edge of the bed, lifting her feet into his lap and, after summoning a bottle of lotion from the bathroom, massaging every inch of her feet and toes, until she was completely relaxed, and snoring softly.

After a few more minutes of massaging Hermione's feet, Harry gently lifted them out of his lap and placed them back on the bed. Hermione curled onto her side and stayed sound asleep, so Harry changed into his own pajamas and curled up behind her, scooting close and holding his beautiful bride to be against his chest.

It wasn't long before Hermione's rhythmic breathing had lulled Harry to sleep and tonight, he dreamed of his son and daughter. This time, they were going to their first year at Hogwarts, as students.


	26. Chapter 26

After finding her mother and father standing in her corner again, Hermione found herself growing more and more confident. She held her head high, and accepted that while she had made an error in judgment, there was no reason to hide and cower because of it. Even the Slytherins lost interest in taunting her because they no longer received the reaction that they hoped for.

It wasn't until the last week in May, after Hermione had finished her last final exam for the year, and was on her way to her dorm to floo her mother about wedding plans, when she heard, "Hey fatty," from behind and groaned.

Before she could turn to face her tormenter, she felt a strong hand on her back, and her foot slipped off the top step and she tumbled down an entire flight of stairs before she could get herself stopped.

Her stomach began to cramp and she felt her pants become damp as she screamed out, "Help me!" followed by an animalistic, wordless scream of pain as the cramps doubled her over. "Please help me!" She screamed again, panting from the pain.

Soon students and teachers alike, were rushing out of classrooms, and her attacker disappeared into the crowd, unnoticed by all, except for a select few, who followed him.

Much to the students' shock, Severus Snape was the teacher who rushed to her side and conjured a stretcher to levitate Hermione as gently as possible to the hospital wing. "Miss Lovegood, go and fetch Mr. Black from the Herbology greenhouses. I believe they are in Greenhouse 3 today. Hurry!" Snape barked, before moving as quickly as he could through the crowd of parting students.

When they reached the hospital wing, Severus once again barked, "Poppy!"

The matronly medi-witch came bustling out of her office, annoyed at the tone that Professor Snape seemed to always use with her, until she saw her pregnant student on the stretcher.

"Sweet Merlin," she gasped. "Severus, take her straight through the floo to St. Mungo's."

Shortly after Snape had went through the floo and directly into the maternity ward at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies, Harry Black arrived in the Hogwarts hospital wing with Luna right on his heels.

"Where's Hermione?" He shouted into the empty room.

Poppy Pomfrey came out of her office and attempted, to no avail, to calm Harry down. "Professor Snape took Miss Granger through the floo to St. Mungo's. They'll take good care of her there."

"Then let me go through, what's the floo password?" Harry demanded.

"I can't let you go until Professor Dumbledore tells me to," the medi-witch tried to explain.

"Well let him go Poppy, let the boy go." The soft voice of a saddened Headmaster reached them. "Miss Granger needs Mr. Black right now. She has gone into labor and they are attempting to stop it, but she may have to have their children today."

Harry paled. "What's the password?" He asked weakly.

Madame Pomfrey motioned for him to step into the floo, and when he did, she tossed the powder in and spoke the password that would take him directly to the maternity ward, something that she'd learned only a few weeks prior, so that if Hermione did have any problems, they could get to the hospital quickly.

When Harry stumbled out of the floo, he was surrounded by healers and medi-wtches and wizards rushing around. Some were carrying potions, while others were pushing little carts with wrinkly red-faced babies in them. Harry's head began to spin, until he felt an anchoring hand on his shoulder.

"You're betrothed is in room 1547, but she isn't allowed any visitors at the moment, as they are working very hard to keep your children from being born at the moment." The silky voice of Severus Snape informed him.

The usually sullen potions professor guided his student to a chair along the wall and Harry sank into it, still in shock.

"Thank you, Professor," Harry remembered. "Thank you for bringing her."

"I was merely trying to deliver her to Poppy when the woman became agitated and directed me through the floor, and I ended up here. I was only doing what any decent Professor would do for his or her student." Snape explained away.

"Harry Black?" A medi-wizard called out.

Harry shot out of his chair, leaving Snape sitting against the wall alone, and practically ran into the man, rushing to him.

"Calm down Mr. Black. Miss Granger is stable for the time being, and asking for you. She is still having some mild cramping and is far from out of the woods. Stay calm, speak softly to her, and don't upset her, and you can go and be with her." The medi-wizard explained.

Harry nodded, taking deep calming breaths, and the medi-wizard led him to room 1547. Before they entered, the medi-wizard paused again. "Miss Granger suffered a few abrasions and has a few bruises. We closed the abrasions with the episky spell, but bruise salves are not safe to apply to a pregnant woman, because some of the ingredients could damage the fetus, or in your case, fetuses, so she looks a little rough."

Harry nodded, and the medi-wizard opened the door just in time to hear Hermione's strangled scream, and for Harry to see her grab her abdomen in pain, and to be pushed out of the way by a team of maternity healers and medi-witches and wizards.


	27. Chapter 27

_AN: Because my cliffie almost killed Sara, here is a slight continuation. _

As the doors swung closed in Harry's face, Hermione's attacker was being pursued by Ginny, Dean and Neville, who were all determined to catch him. Flashes of his hair could be seen through the crowd, and they were hot on his tail.

Finally, outside of the major part of the crowd, Ginny grabbed him by the shirt and forcefully swung him around. The look of shock on his face would have been comical if it hadn't been for the situation. "Surprised your baby sister is that strong? Maybe you should stop picking on girls, big brother," Ginny said, punching her brother straight in the nose, and watching as it erupted in a fountain of blood. "Bet you didn't think I'd do that either, did you?"

Ron tried to reach up to pinch his nose to slow the blood flow, but Dean and Neville grabbed his arms and began to pull him back toward the crowd. Ginny pulled her wand out of her back pocket and kept it trained on Ron, incase he tried getting away.

Other than a bit of tugging and pulling, and the immense amount of blood pouring from his nose, they didn't have much trouble getting back to the main hallway, where quite a few students stood gossping, and Professors Flitwick and McGonagall were discussing if it would even be possible to get classes back to normal, or if they should just give the students the rest of the day off, at least until they heard from the hospital.

"Here he is Professors," Ginny said as Dean and Neville let go of her brother.

"What happened to Mr. Weasley?" Mcgonagall asked, confused and concerned for her student.

"He's the one who pushed Hermione," Ginny explained, giving her bleeding brother a push toward the teachers.

"I didn't push anyone," Ron grumbled.

"We'll see about that," McGonagall said, leading the four students to her office.

After everyone was in and the door was closed, McGongall directed Ron to a seat in front of her desk. "I'm going to take your memories now," she said simply, before placing her wand against his temple, and casting the legilimens spell on him. She sifted through his memories, pausing to admire Miss Weasley's punch, and the finding the memory she was looking for.

McGonagall pulled the long silvery strand of memory out of Ron's head and placed it in a vial for the Aurors.

After placing Ron in a full body-bind and episkying his nose, the matronly deputy headmistress made a floo call to Nymphadora Tonks in the Auror department, and soon the bubblegum haired witch stepped into McGonagall's office.

"What's up, Professor?" She asked, bouncily.

"Mr. Weasley here attacked Miss Granger. She was taken to the hospital wing and then sent directly to the maternity ward at St. Mungo's. It doesn't look good for the babies at this point. Albus' last message said that just as they were about to let Harry in the room, he was pushed back out because they potions and spells they had used to treat Miss Granger's labor and leaking amniotic waters had stopped working and she was in full blown labor." McGonagall explained.

By the time that her old professor had finished, Tonks' hair had lost all it's color and her face was just as pale. "Will the kids be ok? I mean...those are my little cousins."

"St. Mungo's has a very good NICU system and very good potions regiment for premature infants. Multiples are quite common in witches and wizards alike, and somtime witches even end up with triplets, so St. Mungo's stays quite prepared. I'm sure the tiniest members of the Black family will be just fine."

Tonks nodded, and then roughly pulled Ron to his feet. "You'll be spending the night in Azkaban, you little..." she stopped talking, and just drug him back through the floo, before she said something that she shouldn't in front of the other students.

"You three may go back to your common room. Classes are canceled for the rest of the day. I doubt anyone will be working, considering what everyone witnessed. I will update the entire school about Miss Granger at supper." McGongall said, dismissing them.

Ginny and Dean locked hands as they, and Neville, walked back to the Gryffindor common room, heads hanging.

As soon as the password was spoken and the door swung open, they were bombarded with questions.

"What did Ron do?"

"Where is Ron?"

"Did McGongall expel him?"

"What happened to Hermione?""Where's Harry?"

"Did Hermione have the babies?"

"Did Hermione really get taken to St. Mungo's?"

"SHUT UP!" Ginny screeched. "ANYTHING THEY WANT YOU TO KNOW, MCGONAGALL IS GOING TO TELL YOU AT DINNER!"

Ginny stormed to her dorm, leaving a shocked Dean and Neville standing in the portrait doorway and the rest of Gryffindor tower staring in shock, at the trail of dust she left behind her.

Once in her dorm, Ginny flung herself on the bed and began to cry, something she rarely did.

A few minutes later, Lavender came into the dorm. "Ginny, are you alright?"

"What if they don't make it," Ginny said quietly. "What if they don't make it, and I was too concerned with chasing Ron to go with her?"

"Oh Gin. The babies are going to be ok. Hermione was almost 31 weeks pregnant already. she only had 9 weeks to go anyway. She was taking those special potions from her healer to start developing their little lungs early, incase they came early, since a lot of twins do. I'm sure they'll be fine."

"McGonagall did tell Tonks that St. Mungo's has an excellent NICU. I hope she's right. I hope you're right." Ginny said, sitting up on the bed and hugging her legs.

"Why don't you come downstairs to the common room with the rest of us. Everyone is just sitting around waiting for dinner to come so that we can find out what happened anyway." Lavender suggested. "And Dean looks worried about you," she added.

Ginny nodded and stood, wiping her face, and headed down the stairs from the girls dorm, and back to the common room.


	28. Chapter 28

Harry was ushered to a smaller room off to the side of the doors to Hermione's room and it was quickly explained to him that the spells and potions that had been stopping the leaking in Hermione's amniotic sac, and stopping the cramping and contractions had stopped working and there was nothing else to be done to stop the labor.

It was also explained to him that Hermione had received several extra vials of the potion to speed the growth of the children's vital organs, and they should be able to live after birth, even if they had to be hospitalized for a few weeks.

He was given a set of sterile scrubs and some little booties to go over his shoes, and led into the room where Hermione lay back on the bed with her legs in the stirrups at the foot of the bed, and a healer was between her legs, checking her dilation.

"She's almost fully dilated," he said to one of the medi-witches near him. "You're almost ready to push that first baby out, Miss Granger," he told her.

Harry walked to the head of the bed and took Hermione's hand. Her grip tightened almost immediately as another contraction ripped through her abdomen and she screamed through the pain.

As the pain momentarily subsided, she managed to pant out "Get my parents. I need them here as soon as possible."

Harry rushed to the door and looked out in the hall. Albus Dumbledore, just the man he was hoping to see, was sitting beside Professor Snape, and Harry called out. "Professor Dumbledore? Get Hermione's parents, will you? And my dads? Where are they?"

When the old man nodded and waved Harry away, he rushed back to the beside to take his fiancé's hand, while she gave birth to his children.

Harry was in awe, watching and wiping her brow as Hermione panted, cried and screamed her way through a dozen more contractions before the doctor finally told her that it was time to push.

"Come on Hermione, with the next contraction, I want you to hold your breath, bear down and push as hard as you can while your boyfriend here counts to ten."

"Fiancé," Hermone corrected. "We're getting married in two weeks."

The healer smiled. "Alright, fiance then. Your fiancé is going to count to ten, then I want you to take a big deep breath and start pushing again. We're going to get these babies out of you and make the pain stop, ok?"

Hermione nodded and took a deep breath to begin pushing as the next contraction shook her body.

"One...two...three..." Harry counted,

When he reached ten, Hermione let out a big whoosh of air and quickly sucked one back in again and began pushing with all her strength.

"You're doing really well Hermione." The healer encouraged, "Keep pushing just like that and we'll have the head out in just a couple more pushes.

With each contraction, Hermione pushed with all her might. It was only two contractions later that the healer shouted "I see the head," and Harry stepped back, not letting go of Hermione's hand, to see the head of his first born child emerging from it's mother.

He got a little light headed as he watched the doctor help his tiny baby's shoulder come on through, and as soon as Hermione gave one more small push and the rest of the body came out, and Harry saw that his son was the first born, and heard that first beautiful cry, he went right back to Hermione's head. "He's beautiful. Oh he's so beautiful. You did so well." He told her, kissing her all over her face.

"Mr. Black, would you like to cut your son's umbilical cord?" The healer who had taken their son from the delivering healer, asked Harry.

Placing one more kiss on Hermione's forehead, he let go of her hand and rushed to the little table where his son was laying, tiny, but absolutely perfect. The healer showed him just where to cut, and he used the small, awkward scissors to cut the cord and watched as the healer checked his son over again before handing him to a medi-witch to clean up and take him to the NICU for a full evaluation.

Hermione's cry brought his attention back to her, and he rushed to her side as the delivering healer prepared to help Hermione give birth to their daughter. "Our little man is so perfect. You did wonderfully, and I know you can do it one more time, for our little girl." Harry encouraged.

Hermione gripped Harry's hand once again, exhaustion obvious on her face, and began to push.

After fifteen minutes of hard pushing, the baby's head still wasn't emerging. The healer instructed Hermione to stop pushing, and pulled out his wand.

He preformed the same spell that the healer who had done her ultrasound did, and the image began to appear above her abdomen. This time only one baby appeared, looking perfectly healthy, but the position she was in was the problem.

"Miss Granger, your baby has shifted and is in what we call the Frank Breech position. Her buttocks are against your cervix and her feet are up by her head. It's a very painful position to give birth to a child in, but it can be done. However, considering that you've just given birth to another child, and you are fairly exhausted, combined with the fact that your daughter is almost ten weeks early, and about eight ounces smaller than your son, I would suggest that we put you to sleep immediately and do a cesarean section, where we cut your abdomen open and remove the baby."

Hermione consented to the cesarean and Harry was ushered to the other side of the room while Hermione's position was slightly altered and she was giving a heavy sleeping potion and a pain blocker.

Once Hermione was asleep, the healer used his wand to make a precise cut into Hermione's abdomen and into her uterus, and carefully pulled Harry's daughter out, head first.

She looked so tiny and fragile, and to Harry's alarm, wasn't crying. "What's wrong with my daughter?" He cried out.

The delivery healer was healing Hermione's uterus and abdomen, while the other two healers and a team of medi-witches and wizards took care of his daughter. No one was paying attention to him, or answering, so Harry stood frozen in the corner, panicked.

A few minutes later, the delivery healer finished healing Hermione and realized that Harry hadn't been answered, and motioned him over.

From where Harry was now standing, he could see the team had put a tube in his daughter's mouth. "That tube is helping her to breathe. Her lungs are not fully developed and she wasn't breathing on her own. She didn't respond to the potions as well as her brother did. She's ok though. Her heart is beating perfectly on it's own, and she was without oxygen for less than 30 seconds. The NICU healers will do a scan on her brain when she's in the NICU, and we'll give her potions to finish growing her lungs, and we'll put her in the crib with her brother. Everything should be fine within a couple of hours. If we're lucky, she'll just stay a few days for observation and tests, and be ready to go home when her brother does."

Harry nodded, trying to process all the information he was being given, and the healer continued talking, explaining all the things he would see when he was taken down to the NICU and what he could and couldn't touch, as well as who he could ask for help if he didn't understand something.

One of the medi-wizards picked his daughter up and placed her blanket wrapped form into a little bed with wheels, and the entire team rushed out of the room with her, and the delivery healer urged Harry to follow, promising to make sure that someone was with Hermione when she woke.

Harry rushed out the door of the delivery room to follow his daughter, and to find his son.


	29. Chapter 29

Sirius and Remus were pacing back and forth across the hallway, shooting nervous glances at each other after being summoned to the hospital by Dumbledore. Their son and soon to be daughter in law were in there having their babies almost ten weeks early, and there was nothing either man could do to make it better for the kids.

Both men would have loved to be at the ministry, tearing Ron Weasley limb from limb, but they were both fairly sure that Tonks and Kingsley, who were both very fond of Harry and Hermione, would take care of the wanker for them.

Sirius was about to turn and pace back across the hall when the delivery room doors banged open and a medi-witch and medi-wizard came barreling out the door with a tiny blue bundle in a rolling crib.

"Hey!" Sirius called out. "Hey! That's my grandson! Where are you taking him."

The medi-wizard motioned for his female partner to take the baby on to the NICU, while he stopped to explain what was going on. "Miss Granger still has to give birth to your granddaughter. Your grandson seems to be perfectly healthy, but will probably have to go on a little oxygen supplementation. Medi-Witch Luna is taking him on to the NICU to be evaluated and have his blood oxygen checked. As soon as your granddaughter is born and evaluated, you can come and see them. Parents, Grandparents and siblings are allowed in the NICU. Anyone else will have to wait until baby comes home. Do you have any other questions?"

When Remus and Sirius both shook their heads, medi-wizard Marcus took off down the hall after their grandson and the medi-witch that was pushing him toward the NICU.

The two wizards resumed their pacing, and were now alone in the hallway, as Albus and Severus had both left. Albus went to collect Hermione's parents and Severus had went back to the school because he just plain wanted out of the cheery maternity ward.

Just as they thought their heads would explode from stress, Albus came around the corner with Jean and Jonathan Granger. Remus hugged Jean, having become friends with her during the planning of Harry's and Hermione's wedding.

"They've got the boy in the NICU checking him out, he might need oxygen supplementation but otherwise, he's perfect. We're waiting on our princess." Remus told her, before she had a chance to ask.

Both Sirius and Remus shook hands with Hermione's father, and Albus motioned them all into chairs and conjured a floating tea pot and 4 cups. "I must be going now," he said, turning to leave. "Do update me when the little lady is with us."

A chorus of "Thank you Albus," was heard from all four waiting grandparents, and Dumbledore headed back down the hall to the public floo.

No one touched their tea, so the paisley printed cups just sat, floating in mid air, in front of them as they sat quietly, until Jonathan Granger stood and began to pace up and down the hall. Sirius soon joined him, and Remus wasn't far behind. Jean was the only one left sitting and she shook her head at the poor nervous grandfathers.

Just then, an entire team of healers and medis came barreling out of the delivery room, surrounding a tiny cot with what they knew must be their granddaughter in it. They started toward it, but the team was running down the hall, and Harry came out hot on their heels, chasing his baby girl.

Sirius grabbed Harry's arm. "Son, what's going on?"

"Hermione's out. Cesaraen section because she was breech. Hermione's ok. Potions didn't work on the baby. She's got a tube to help her breathe. Gotta get to the NICU and be with her. Go be with Hermione." Harry spit out quickly, shook his father's arm off, and took off after his daughter.


	30. Chapter 30

Harry reached the NICU as they were taking his daughter through the doors and he was ushered to the little bed that his son was in, and a medi-witch dressed in purple scrubs picked the small boy up, being careful of the tiny oxygen cannula that had been placed in his tiny nose, and handed him to Harry. She showed him how to support his head without crimping the oxygen hose and covered both father and son in another blanket, to ward off any chill from the room.

Harry looked into his son's pale blue eyes and wondered how long they would stay that beautiful color.

A beep sounded from a machine across the room and he looked up in time to see a healer administering a blue potion directly into his daughter's blood stream, with a needle. His heart ached, knowing that even if she was in pain, she couldn't cry out because of the tube in her throat.

The healer finished giving his daughter the shot and came over to speak with him. "In about an hour, we'll come and check her vital signs, and see if we can remove the tube. She's not in any pain at all, we've made sure of that. She's completely relaxed, so the tube in her throat doesn't choke her, and we've given her pain potions, so even with all the healing and internal growing her body will do over the next hour, she won't feel a thing. I promise you that," the healer explained.

Harry nodded, tears still in his eyes as he watched his baby girl lying alone in the isolet, surrounded by tubes and monitors, with no comfort, as his tiny son was snuggled into the crook of his arm.

"Can I...touch her?" he asked the healer.

Looking sympathetic, the healer nodded. "I'll have one of the medi-witches come in and help you put your little guy back into his bed, and suit you up so you can put your arms in there and sort of hold her. You'll have to be careful though."

Harry sat back in the chair, moving his son so that the baby boy was laying on his chest, and kissed the top of his head. "I'm going to do everything I can to protect you and your sister, but you see how little she is? It's your job to protect her too, so you've got to grow up and be a big strong boy and protect your sister too." Harry said, speaking quietly to his son. "You're going to be a wonderful slightly bigger brother, I know you will."

The nurse came in the room, and took Harry's son, and placed him back in the bed. "Before we get you all suited up, do you want me to take some pictures so you can take them and show them to their mother? She should be waking up in a few minutes and I know she's going to want to see you and know what's going on." The medi-witch asked him.

Harry agreed and the medi-witch got her instant camera and took a few short wizard pictures for Harry to take to Hermione.

Once that was finished, the medi-witch came back into the room and helped Harry into a yellow coat and purple nitrile gloves. She opened the tiny doors on the isolet and guided Harry's hands toward his daughter. "Gentle now," she said. "Just like that. You can cup her little head in your hand, but leave it just like it is on the blankets."

The medi-witch observed Harry for a minute, to make sure he understood her directions, and then left him to have some privacy with his children. "I love you sweetheart," he whispered to his tiny daughter. "Your big brother and I are going to make sure nothing ever happens to you. And your mama? She'll be the fiercest protector of all. She's beautiful and smart and you'll be just like her."

Harry sat with his daughter for a bit longer before he called for the medi-witch and she came and helped him put everything just right, so that he could go and show the pictures of the babies to Hermione.

Casting one last glance at his children, Harry left his children to sleep while he went to be with their mother as she woke up.

Hermione was just starting to stir, and called out for Harry.

"I'm right here, love." He said as he walked up to the edge of the bed, still dressed in his borrowed scrubs and the little booties.

"The babies?" Hermione asked weakly, still woozy from the potions.

"He's just fine. Has a little oxygen cannula in his nose, but other than that, he's perfect." Harry paused to let that sink in and was pleased to see the small smile grace Hermione's features.

"What 'bout my girl?" She asked.

"She's having a bit of a time of it. We've got about 15 minutes before the doctors will check to see if she's taking to the potions that they've given her. She didn't take to the potions that they gave you the way that our little prince did."

Hermione's eyes snapped open. She was still a little glazed, but her attention was focused on Harry. "Take me to her. I want to be with her when they test her."

"You need your rest," Harry tried.

"No, Harry. I want to be with my daughter." Hermione insisted.

Sirius went to find the healer, while Hermione's mother tried to calm her down.

The healer came back into the room and checked Hermione over. He called a medi-witch into the room, and they helped Hermione into a wheelchair.

Harry was given permission to take her down to the NICU to see the children, and they left, leaving the grandparents sitting in the delivery room.

They reached the NICU just as the healers were going into the kids' room.

"Wait!" Hermione called to them.

The healers stopped and turned to face them. He waited until they got down the hall before heading into the room. When the healers and the parents were all in the room, the healer explained that he would cast a diagnostic spell on their daughter and depending on the results, they would take out the tube and release the relaxant spells to see if she could breathe on her own, with or without oxygen supplementation.

Harry held Hermione's hand as the healer preformed the spell, and the watched as the results were recorded on a sheet of parchment in the healer's hand. Both mother and father held their breath as the waited for the healer to tell them the results.

"This test looks good," he healer said, smiling as Harry and Hermione both let out a relieved whoosh of air.

"Next is to take the spells off and the tube out, and keep an eye on her for a few minutes until we know for sure if she's going to breathe on her own." The healer explained.

"Thank you," Hermione said. "Thank you for helping her."

The anxious parents watched as they released one spell, then removed the tube from their daughter's throat, and then released the rest of the spells. The room was completely silent as everyone watched the little girl's chest to see if she would breathe.

After a few agonizing seconds her chest rose and she gave a tiny cry, and everyone in the room cheered.

Harry pushed Hermione's wheelchair up to the bed after the medis and healers stepped away, and for the first time, Hermione met her tiny daughter.

"She weights three pounds, four ounces, and your son weighs three pounds, twelve ounces." The medi-witch who was still in the room told them. "They're both tiny, but you're lucky that your Professor got you here when you did, because those potions really helped your boy a lot, and we were ready for your daughter when the healer let us know what was going on. Everyone's going to be just fine," she reassured the couple, before leaving them.

"I had an idea for their names while I was sitting here holding our son earlier. I know we never decided anything for sure, so I didn't tell the medis anything when they came around," Harry told his fiancé.

When Hermione heard Harry's suggestions and his reasoning behind them, she knew the names were perfect.

"Let's get the worried grandparents down here and let them meet their grandchildren, since we know everything is going to be ok now," Hermione suggested.

Harry called for the medi-witch to bring Sirius, Remus, Jean and Jonathan down to meet the children, who would be moving to the step-down nursery in a few hours, if their progress continued, and settled their son into Hermione's arms, and then took their son into his own, and sat in the rocking chair in the corner of the room.


	31. Chapter 31

The medi-witch found all four grandparents sitting in the delivery room waiting for word from the kids. She led them down the hall and showed them how to wash their hands in the special hand wash sinks and then took them into the NICU room where they found Harry and Hermione holding the babies.

"Hi mum, dad," Hermione said as her parents came up on each side of her, admiring their son.

Remus and Sirius were standing on each side of Harry, admiring their granddaughter in much the same way that Jean and Jonathan were with their grandson. "Hey dad, dad." Harry said with a grin. "Would you like to hold your grandson?"

Remus jumped at the opportunity and carefully took his grandson from his son and was amazed at how light he was. "He's so tiny," he commented.

"Three pounds, twelve ounces." Harry told him. "She's three pounds, four ounces."

Hermione was reluctant to hand her daughter over, but eventually handed her to Jean to hold. "Oh goodness," Jean said when she took the tiny bundle from her daughter, realizing just how tiny the babies really were.

"Had you chosen names for them yet?" Jonathan asked

"We had been talking about it, but Harry thought of two lovely names while he was sitting with them, when I was still asleep," Hermione said, smiling over at Harry, who was watching Remus hand the baby to Sirius.

"Well?" Sirius asked, looking up at them. "What are their names, so we can stop saying 'the boy' and 'the girl' already?" He asked with a grin.

"My son's name is Ardin Brennus. It means fiery prince. Fiery, because I think we all know about both of his parents' tempers, and prince both as a tribute to Professor Snape, who was the only person in corridor this morning who didn't just stop and stare at Hermione, and because he's our little prince." Hermione explained.

"And my daughter's name is Branwen Sara. Branwen means beautiful, because obviously she's going to be beautiful just like her mother, and Princess because she's our little princess, and it fits with her brother, without being all weird and matchy," Harry explained.

"Beautiful," Hermione's mother said, as her father nodded in agreement.

"I guess I'll have to say 'Thank you' to Sni...Severus, when we get back to the school." Sirius said, looking down at his beautiful grandchildren, who had been taken back into the arms of their parents.

"That would be appropriate," Remus agreed. "We both will."

"Yeah I have some things to thank him for too. But I don't think he's going to be moved by our naming Ardin's middle name as a tribute to him. Doesn't seem like the type to give a shit." Harry said with a bit of a laugh.

"I think you'd be surprised at the emotion Severus can display when he's not in the presence of someone who tormented him for the better part of seven years," Remus told Harry. "Give the man a chance."

Harry nodded in agreement, and everyone's attention went back to the children. The grandparents oooed and ahhhed over the two adorable babies until the healers came in and asked everyone but the parents to leave, after assuring them that nothing was wrong.

"We need to do another assessment on both of them, so that we can move them to another room. They're both breathing fine, and as you can see, our NICU is well equipped, but tiny. We have a much bigger ward for newborns who need a little observation." The healer explained.

After casting a dozen diagnostics while the babies were in their mummy and daddy's arms, the healer announced that they were both healthy, and that Ardin's oxygen cannula could be removed.

Harry smiled down at his son as the tube was removed from his face, and his view of the little man was now unobstructed.

"He has your nose, honey." He told Hermione.

"Branwen has your ears," Hermione told him.

"Are we ready to move? They should only have to stay one night if everything continues going as it is right now," the healer said.

Harry and Hermione placed the babies back into their little wheeled beds and allowed the medis to push them down the hall and around a few twists and turns, into their new room.

"Miss Granger, you need to go back to bed," her healer told her as she walked by, holding her lower abdomen. "You just gave birth to two children less than an hour and a half ago. No matter how good my healing spells are, you still need rest."

Hermione tried to protest, but it was futile. Harry steered her into the nearest wheelchair and took her back to her room. "You can't take care of them when we all go home tomorrow if you're too sore to sit up because you didn't follow the doctors orders." Harry told her when she tried to argue with him. "I'll go back with them in a bit, but right now I'd like to hold my fiancé for a few minutes. After all, she, and our daughter, just gave me the scare of my life."

He crawled up into the bed beside Hermione, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Soon, both of them were asleep, exhausted from the stress, and for Hermione, a bit of the potions leftover in her system.

The couple was still asleep when both sets of grandparents made their way back to the room.

When she saw the kids asleep, Jean motioned for the guys to go back out of the room, and they all went to a cozy little waiting room where tea was being served out of a never-empty tea pot, to give them some time to rest.

"Albus scared the life out of me," Remus said. "He came bursting into the classroom with none of the decorum he usually has, and said Sirius and I needed to come to the hospital wing."

"He did much the same to us, except he said 'the hospital' to keep our patients from wondering what the dickens he was talking about," Jonathan told them. "I was terrified that something much worse had happened. What's going to happen to the boy who pushed our girl?"

"He was taken to Azkaban, our prison," Remus explained.

"We know about Azkaban and the dementors. Hermione's told us about them." Jean confirmed.

"He'll be held there until his trail in a few days." Sirius told them. "We're not yet sure what they'll be charging him with.

"Hopefully he'll pay for what almost happened to my daughter and our grandchildren." Jonathan Granger said grumpily.

"I'm sure that they will punish him appropriately, calm down dear." Jean said, calmingly.

Sirius switched the topic to something a bit more light hearted and succeeded in distracting Mr. Granger from his anger at Ron. The two couples sat and talked for quite a while, until Harry came to let them see the babies one more time before visiting hours ended.


	32. Chapter 32

_AN: Merry Christmas lovies! _

The small family was able to return to Grimmauld Place, rather than the castle, as term was officially over the following day, and Hermione and Harry had both finished their exams.

The nursery at Grimmauld was just big enough for everything they needed. Sirius had added a door between the room that Hermione and Harry would share and the nursery so that they could easily get to the babies at night, but still have privacy.

Hermione put Branwen in her crib and turned to hug both Sirius and Remus. "Thank you both for setting this up, and for letting me stay here with the twins. It will be so much better having Harry here at night too."

Harry ushered his tired fiancé to bed for a nap, as Sirius took Ardin into the nursery to rock the little guy to sleep. "Rest love, you've just given birth to our little ones, and now you're using your body to feed them. The least I can do is to watch over them while they sleep." With a kiss to her forehead, Harry left Hermione to rest.

The young father stepped into the nursery just in time to see Sirius gently placing Ardin into his crib. "You're good with them," Harry commented.

"I had a little practice when you were a baby," Sirius commented. "I just didn't know that you, were YOU, ya know?"

Harry nodded. "It's so crazy that mum and dad got me, when you and dad were actually my parents."

Sirius agreed. "James and Lily would have never taken you from us, had they known, but with things the way they were, we had no chance of keeping you, so we didn't tell anyone."

Harry hugged his dad and they quietly left the nursery, so they wouldn't waken the twins or Hermione.

A couple of hours later the worried papa went upstairs to check on the babies, and began to freak out when Branwen wasn't in her crib, until he noticed the door between the nursery and his and Hermione's bedroom was open. He went through the opening and found Hermione sitting in a rocking chair in front of the window, nursing their daughter.

Harry was almost mesmerized by the sight. His beautiful, strong fiancé had been through so much since they had become a couple, but she said there with a serene look on her face, nourishing the body of their beautiful daughter.

The first part of the summer was spent in much the same way as their first day went. Harry fussed over Hermione, Hermione fed the babies, and the proud grandfathers spent much of their time fussing over either their grandchildren, or Harry and Hermione.

Hermione's parents were over quite often, and Sirius or Remus was quick to offer to fetch them anytime Hermione needed or wanted to see them.

In late June, Sirius and Remus took Hermione for her apparation test. She had spent most of the late summer with Harry and hadn't taken it before school, and during school breaks she was pregnant and unable to take it, so she had to wait until after she had healed from the birth.

Hermione was a bundle of nerves, but of course passed with flying colors on her first try and came home that afternoon beaming, showing Harry, who opted to stay home with the sleeping twins, her license.

The summer flew by and before they knew it, Ardin and Branwen were rolling over and chewing on their toes, and it was almost Harry's seventeenth birthday.

Unknown to Harry, Sirius and Remus were planning a big party. Hermione was in on the planning, and had been sending owls out in the early morning hours when Harry was sleeping and she was up with one of the children.

Harry awoke on July thirty-first to a very quiet house. Ardin and Branwen were both sleeping, Hermione was in the library reading and book, and his fathers were no where to be found.

"Good morning love. Happy Birthday." Hermione said, leaning up from her book to kiss him.

"Thank you," Harry said, a bit surprised at the quiet. "Where's everyone?"

"Oh Remus and Sirius had to go into town to get a few things, they said they would be back around one and we should be dressed and ready to go somewhere with them," Hermione said with a grin.

Harry spent his morning snuggling with the twins and otherwise being lazy. Around noon he put the twins down for naps and headed for the shower.

By twelve thirty Harry was ready to go where ever they were going and was sitting in the living room, puzzled.

Remus and Sirius arrived home at exactly one, and Hermione headed upstairs and came down shortly, with a twin in each arm.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"First, to take your apparation test," Sirius answered.

Sirius side-alonged Harry to the ministry while Remus waited for the Knight Bus with Hermione, because the twins weren't old enough to be side-alonged yet. They promised to meet up once Hermione and Remus made it to town.

After Harry and Sirius left, Hermione took the babies out into the backyard, and put them in their playpen. Using her wand, Hermione decorated the back yard in Harry's favorite colors, red and silver.

While Hermione was decorating the back yard, Remus was busy directing everyone through the floo and toward the back yard, and helping Molly Weasley levitate Harry's cake to the big table that Hermione had set up.

Harry took his apparation test at the ministry, and due to his nerves, passed it on the second try. Sirius insisted that he had forgotten something at home, so about one hour after they left, Harry and Sirius apparated back to Grimmauld place. It was almost eerily quiet as they walked to the kitchen.

"Hey Harry, look at this," Sirius said as he peeked out the door before walking into the back yard.

"What?" Harry asked, following his father.

"SURPRISE" everyone yelled as they jumped up from behind bushes, chairs, tables, trees and some removed concealment charms.

Harry was surprised, he hadn't expected to have a big party, considering he had children to take care of, but thrilled that his fathers and fiance had taken the time to plan this for him.

They spent the afternoon eating cake, catching up and watching out for the Weasley twins' pranks. Everyone had a great time, and by the end of the day Harry, Hermione and the twins were all exhausted, and for the first time since they were born, they all got to sleep through the night.


	33. Chapter 33

The next day, Harry awoke with Hermione in his arms, and their children sleeping, just feet away, in the next room. He couldn't imagine feeling any happier than he did, right at that moment.

With their return to Hogwarts only a month away, Harry knew there was no way that he could be separated from his family again.

As Hermione started to stir, Harry gave her a squeeze, signaling that he was awake. "Good morning," Hermione said with a sleepy smile.

"Let's get married," was Harry's reply.

"I already said yes, you big goof." Hermione said, not awake enough to catch what Harry meant.

"No, I meant before we go back to Hogwarts. I don't want anyone telling me when I can see my kids and when I can see you." He replied, holding her close to his chest.

Hermione began to realize what Harry meant, and scooted into a sitting position on the bed. "How soon do you want this to happen?" she asked, considering the possibilities.

"As soon as we can get it all arranged." Harry said with a grin, knowing that she was agreeing.

They sat in bed and talked of the size, location, cake and other things until the twins began to stir, and Harry went to get them out of their cribs, while Hermione had a moment to herself, before feeding them, and beginning to get ready for the day.

Once the twins had their breakfast and everyone was downstairs and enjoying their breakfasts, Harry brought up the wedding to his dads.

"That's great kids. It'll make everything a lot easier on both of you." Remus said sensibly.

"Oh Moony, you always think of the boring reasons to do things. Weddings are great!" Sirius practically danced in his seat.

Remus mock-glared at Sirius. "When do you kids want to have it?"

"We talked this morning and we think given that we can use magic on pretty much everything, the fifteenth of this month should give us plenty of time to get it all taken care of," Hermione explained.

"Perfect!" Sirius said, actually bouncing in his seat this time. "Floo your mum and have her come over after breakfast, you guys can go girly shopping while I take Harry shopping for new wedding robes, then you can tell us what else to do when you're done girly shopping."

Hermione laughed at her soon to be father in law's excitement, but couldn't help but admit to herself that she was even more excited that he was. Finally marrying the love of her life, and the father to her two beautiful children was the most exciting feeling that she had ever felt. Even more exciting than finding out she was a witch and was going away to school to learn to be a better witch.

Hermione's mum was nearly as excited as Sirius and came through the floo within minutes of being called. They all took off on their shopping trips while Remus set the house elves to work cleaning and replanting the back gardens, all five of them agreeing to meet for lunch in the afternoon.

Hermione chose to go with a muggle wedding dress and so she and her mother headed for a muggle dress shop in London. She tried on long dresses, short dresses and everything in between. Hermione had grown tired of looking at dresses and being dressed up like a Barbie doll, when her mother stepped out from behind a rack of dresses with the most beautiful dress that she had ever laid her eyes on.

The dress was a strapless floor length gown with an open backed corset top with silken laces, and crystal decorating the front, a full princess style skirt with sparkled down the skirt as well.

Hermione tried it on and it fit like it was made for her. her mother found the sales clerk, who brought out the matching veil and Hermione looked every bit the princess bride she had always dreamed of being.

While Hermione was finding her Princess dress, Sirius was busy ribbing Harry over the different styles of wedding robes, and asking him if he wanted to be the "princess groom" at his wedding.

In spite of all the teasing and jokes that went back and forth between father and son, they managed to pick out a lovely set of wedding robes with the appropriate clothes to go underneath them, in a respectable amount of time.

They headed to the cafe where they agreed to meet the other three, and found Remus already sitting there, Branwen in his arms with a bottle and Ardin asleep in the stroller, but no sign of Hermione or her mum anywhere. "They're probably tied up in dress shopping," Remus reminded them. "Dresses are a bit harder to shop for, than men's robes."

They order drinks and sat around talking for a half hour before Hermione and her mum showed up, both absolutely beaming with excitement. Harry rose from his chair and kissed his fiancé on the cheek. "Found the one, I take it?" he asked.

"Yes," Hermione gushed. "But it'll stay at the dress shop until the day before the wedding, so no chance of you boys peeking!"

Sirius laughed and Remus couldn't help but chuckle at the perplexed look on Harry face, before their son just shrugged and sat back down at the table, his soon to be wife, at his side, his son and daughter both now asleep in their stroller.


	34. Chapter 34

The next two weeks flew by in a blur of babies and wedding plans. Ardin and Branwen were growing like weeds and spent much of the day at Hermione's breasts, as it seemed they were always hungry.

The back gardens at Grimmauld Place were scrubbed, mulched and replanted by the house-elves, under Remus' close supervision. Beautiful flowering bushes were planted, the grass was grown into a perfect carpet and a lily and tulip covered arch was erected in the back, where the young couple would say their vows.

Hermione planned to walk down the aisle barefoot, with her hair pulled back from her face simply, leaving plenty of curls to dangle elegantly. She had no trouble covering the muggle traditions of something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Her earrings were dangling sapphires, both her something both blue and old, as they belonged to her great-grandmother. The jeweled pins that would hold her hair back were borrowed from her mother, who had worn them when she wed Hermione's father, giving her something borrowed, and her garter and dress were brand new.

When the night of the bachelor and bachelorette parties came around, the couple was happily surprised, not to be dragged off to get drunk, but taken to a beautiful restaurant where they met with all their friends, and spent the evening relaxing and having fun with everyone they cared about.

The morning of the wedding found Hermione and Harry both well rested and relaxed and ready to finally be husband and wife.

Sirius, however, was not as calm. "We just got him back and now he's got kids and getting married!" He exclaimed to his mate.

Remus, always the more sensible of the couple, tried to calm his husband. "It's not like he's moving to America. He and Hermione are still going to live here on holidays and in the summers, and we'll both still be at the school. It's not like we're never going to see him again. Besides who do you think will be their favorite baby sitter?"

Sirius began to calm, but only a bit, and Remus wondered if he should be the man a mild calming draught before he had a stroke.

Remus' thoughts and Sirius' panics were interrupted by Harry. "Dad," he called. "Both of you," he added as an afterthought.

Both men walked into the room across the hall where Harry had began to get ready. Their son looked so handsome in his wedding robes. Traditional black robes, kicked up a little bit with silver threading and a blood red tie.

"I can't get these things in right," he grumbled, handing his old cufflinks to his dads.

"Oh!" Sirius said. "No need for that, I almost forgot!" He pulled out a small gift wrapped box and handed it to Harry. "It's tradition to give your son a gift before his wedding.

Harry opened the package and found a set of cufflinks that were much like the pendants he had seen around his fathers' necks. A tiny wolf, dog and stag chasing each others' tails. "Wow," Harry said, his voice thick with emotion.

Sirius lightened the mood quickly, "Moony was always chasing my tail, that much is true, but don't worry, I never was one to chase James' tail."

Harry wiped his eyes and grinned. "Sure dad, sure."

Sirius cuffed his son on the shoulder and he and Remus helped Harry get the cufflinks in and finish getting ready for his wedding.

Down the hall Hermione was with her mother, getting into her dress and fixing her hair as the babies slept quietly in their bassinets in the corner.

As Hermione's mother pinned curl after curl on top of her daughter's head, keeping them in place with bobby pins, hair spray and the hair pins from her own wedding, both women were growing misty eyed.

"You look so beautiful darling," Her mother sniffed as she pinned the last curl into place.

"Oh mum, don't cry. You'll make me cry and I've got to finish this makeup before I can spell it to be cry-proof," Hermione said, sniffing as well.

Jean Granger hugged her daughter. "I never imagined you getting married before you were out of school but I see the way you and Harry look at each other, and how much he loves you and those beautiful babies and I can't help but be so happy for you, that you found that person for yourself at such a young age."

Hermione turned her wand on her face and spelled her makeup to not run, just as the flood gates opened and she started to sob. "You don't know how much that means to me mum," she hiccupped after both women's tears began to slow.

The father of the bride knocked on the door a few minutes later and called out, "Are you ready pumpkin? It's almost time to start."

Hermione straightened her dress, double checked her hair and cast a freshening charm on her face before she tucked her wand into her dress, straightened her shoulders and opened the door with a smile on her face, ready to walk down the aisle and become Mrs. Harry David Black.


	35. Chapter 35

The doors to the back gardens at Black Manor had been enlarged to make a more grand entrance and when they swept open, everyone stood and watched as Hermione walked down the aisle on the arm of her father, her smile radiating throughout the crowd.

Mrs. Granger and Mrs. Weasley walked behind Hermione, carrying Branwen and Ardin who were decked out in robes that matched their mother's and father's attire.

Harry stood under the floral arch, watching his soon to be bride walk toward him. He couldn't help but be misty eyed as his soon to be wife, and mother of his children walked down the aisle.

When Hermione reached Harry, her father gave her hands to her groom and stepped back. Dumbledore, who was officiating the ceremony, asked "Who gives this woman to be married?"

Hermione's father answered, "Her mother and I do."

Mr. Granger took his seat and Dumbledore began, "Family, friends, wizards and witches, we are gathered here today to celebrate the joining of two young lives. These two young people share one of the most sacred gifts that could be bestowed upon them and they've decided to make their bond permanent. Harry and Hermione have chosen to recite their own vows. Harry?"

"Hermione, you've been one of my best friends since I was 11 years old. You were there with me when we rescued the stone, you helped me figure out the secret in the Chamber, and for every other battle with Voldemort, you've been there. Never once, no matter what kind of prat I was being, did you ever leave me alone. I couldn't ask for a better friend than you. Over the summer when I found out my true parentage and needed someone to listen, you were there. When we began to feel more for each other, I felt like my heart would shatter if I was too far away from you. I know we did things a little bit out of order, but I wouldn't change our lives for the world. I love our beautiful children, and I love you, Hermione Granger."

Very few eyes were dry in the crowd as Dumbledore asked, "Hermione?"

Smiling, Hermione began. "Harry. What do i say to you that you haven't already said to me? Even when I was mad at you, I couldn't stay away from you. You are the best friend I've ever had. I don't know what I could have done throughout all these years, without you. You were my rock, the one friend I could talk to who wouldn't judge me, or push me for more details than I wanted to share. There isn't a second of our past that I would change. You, Ardin and Branwen are my life. I can't wait to spend the rest of my future with you, Harry David Black."

"Do you, Harry David Black, take Hermione Jean Granger to be your lawfully wedded wife, and forever bonded partner, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?" Dumbledore asked.

"I do," Harry said with a huge smile on his face.

"Do you, Hermione Jean Granger, take Harry David Black to be your lawfully wedded husband and forever bonded partner, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

"Of course I do!" Hermione said, her smile mirroring Harry's.

"In that case, I now pronounce you married and bonded, Harry you may kiss your bride." Dumbledore said happily.

As Harry and Hermione kissed, bright sparks emitted from the arch and showered down over them. Their bond rings appeared on their fingers and for a moment they shined so brightly that the light almost burned Harry and Hermione's eyes.

The happy couple walked back down the aisle their hands clasped together around the handle of a magically conjured wagon that pulled Branwen and Ardin behind them.

Once back inside, Harry loosened his tie and Hermione changed into a shorter dress that was easier to move in before they went to the reception that was spread from the dining room, through the kitchen and into the parlor.

Harry and Hermione greeted their guests and thanked them for coming before making their way to a large table set up in the dining room where a beautiful meal of roast beef with burgundy sauce, roasted potatoes, and asparagus was being served.

As the meal was coming to an end, Harry and Hermione rose from their seats and went to the large, decorated, cherry cheesecake that they had chosen as a wedding cake. Together they cut a slice and fed each other small bits while their family and friends took pictures.

Once the cake was served and eaten, Harry and Hermione bid their guests goodbye, picked up their babies, and grabbed the portkey that would take them on their short honeymoon, as they began the rest of their lives as husband and wife.


End file.
